The ship was rapidly sinking into the terrifying depths of the ocean.
Fire, screams, boiling water, and the naked dance of death surrounded us.
Clutching me to her chest,
stumbling and dodging splintered wood while enduring the freezing slaps of the water,
my Ammi made it to the edge of the deck.
"Ammi!
There!
There is a lifeboat!"
I cried, pointing.
But we were too late.
The two lifeboats had either been smashed to pieces and sunk,
or a few terrified crew members had already jumped in and taken them.
We had no way out.
Ammi was panting heavily.
Her illness had drained whatever little strength she had left.
Blood was spilling from her mouth, and her clothes were completely soaked.
Suddenly,
her eyes fell upon a massive **wooden barrel** lying on the deck.
It was a heavy ration barrel used to store food or drinking water for long voyages.
Gathering her absolute last ounce of strength, Ammi forced the lid open and dumped out the little remaining water and supplies inside.
"Omar!
G-Get inside!
Hurry!"
Gripping me with both hands,
Ammi tried to shove me into the wooden barrel.
"No Ammi!
What are you doing?!"
I began to cry hysterically, fighting with all my might to climb back out.
"There's no room in there!
You won't fit! I won't go without you!"
With her blood-stained hands, Ammi held my cheek.
There were tears in her eyes,
but no fear—only a mother's love,
greater than any monster in the world.
"My son... you must stay alive."
"What are you saying,
Ammi?!"
I screamed, sobbing uncontrollably.
My tiny hands gripped hers as tightly as I could.
"I won't leave you alone to die!"
"No, my son, you have to go,"
Ammi offered me a heartbreaking, final smile.
"You have to find your Abu...
And look at me...
Even if I survive this monster here...
this terrible disease will torture me to death in a few days anyway.
My time has already come, my child."
"LIAR!!!"
I stood inside the wooden barrel, screaming at the top of my lungs.
"You're lying! You're making excuses to push me away!
So you can die yourself and I survive?!
I won't let that happen! Never!
I will never let you die!"
I was just about to jump out of the barrel and run to her when...
A surviving crew member, running blindly in panic from behind, lost his balance.
His heavy elbow struck the exact back of my neck with brutal force.
A horrifying jolt of pain shot through me, and darkness clouded my vision.
My small body collapsed into the heavy wooden barrel.
All my strength was gone, but through my blurry vision,
I witnessed my final sight:
My Ammi hastily pulled the lid of the barrel half-shut.
Using her very last breath, she shoved the heavy wooden barrel with all her might, and it slid off the ship, plunging straight into the black ocean.
SPLASH.
Amidst the deafening waves, peering through the small crack of the barrel,
I saw her one last time.
My Ammi was kneeling on the shattered deck.
Saratan's massive shadow loomed directly over her.
But the colossal monster didn't attack her.
For just a fleeting moment, it looked at my Ammi with its massive, ancient eyes, as if bidding a final farewell to a kindred spirit.
In that single second, there was no death in the giant monster's eyes, only a strange peace and an ancient sorrow.
"Allah Hafiz...
my son..."
her lips moved.
And then, Saratan began to sink back down into the water.
Its descent created another massive wave, and the remaining wreckage of the ship, along with my Ammi, was swallowed by the black ocean forever.
Inside the barrel, I let out my final scream and completely lost consciousness.
(Cut scene: Next day at Julfabaad Port)
The next day...
crashing against the waves, that wooden barrel washed up on the rocky shores of Julfabaad Port.
I somehow pushed the lid off and crawled out.
There was utter chaos at Julfabaad Port.
The stench of fish and garbage hung in the air, and I lay in the dirt amidst the crowd like a corpse.
The panicked voices of the people reached my ears.
"I heard another large ship sank on the Shadow Route!"
a man yelled.
"Did no one survive?!"
"Probably no one! To this day, whoever has seen that sea monster hasn't survived.
It's Saratan! It has eaten over 3,000 ships.
God knows how many thousands of merchants that devil has killed!"
Because no one survived the storm to tell the tale, the people never knew the truth—
that Saratan hadn't actually eaten anyone;
it had only broken the ship.
But their terror forced them to spread the rumor that it devours everyone alive.
As soon as I heard that final line—
"no merchant ever returns alive"
—the veins in my head felt like they would burst.
My Abu...
was a merchant.
And he had taken that exact route.
That meant... my Abu was already dead.
My Ammi's sacrifice was for nothing!
I was left completely and utterly alone in this massive world!
I dropped to my knees in that filthy dirt in front of the crowd,
buried my face in my hands, and began to weep with such an agonizing wail, as if the last drop of blood was being wrung from my body.
"Why?!
Why did this happen to me!!
Allah, give me death!!
I don't want to live!!"
I kept screaming, crying.
Just then...
someone placed a light, warm hand on my sobbing shoulder.
I turned around. A man stood before me.
His face was calm, and his eyes held the same warmth
I used to see in my Abu's eyes years ago.
It was none other than the merchant,
Salman.
Salman knelt in the dirt right in front of me.
"Look, child, whatever terrible things have happened to you, either you know or the Almighty knows...
but by losing hope like this, you are causing great pain to your Ammi and Abu."
"IT DOESN'T MATTER!!"
I screamed in his face.
"Because they are not in this world anymore!!
Everything is finished!!"
"So what if they are not in this world?
They live in your breath,"
Salman said, pulling me into an embrace.
"They didn't give up their lives so you could die crying here.
Life is very long, my child...
It must be lived with courage.
From today, you are not alone."
END OF FLASHBACK
(Present Time - In the destroyed village)
Omar snapped out of that agonizing flashback of his Ammi and Abu, crying heavily.
He was kneeling in the ash and scorched earth of the village.
The sickening stench of burnt flesh and ash still hung in the air.
"STOP RIGHT THERE,
BASTARD!!!"
Omar flinched violently and turned around.
Hovering in the air right above him was the Devil Head,
Huba Huba !
"I WILL TAKE YOUR EYES!!!"
The Devil Head was driven insane by blindness and rage.
Huba Huba launched his most brutal and sickening attack.
From the blind devil's hollow sockets,
a rubbery and sticky mass
shot out like webs and slammed tightly onto Omar's face.
"AAHHHH!!!"
Omar screamed in agony into the dark village.
The sticky mass cemented itself over both of Omar's eyes, burning his skin.
With absolute brutality, in a single, deadly jerk, Huba Huba yanked the flesh back!
SQUELCH!!!
"M-MY EYES!!!"
Omar shrieked in horrifying pain, collapsing into the dirt.
Huba Huba had brutally ripped both of his eyes entirely out of their sockets!
Thick streams of blood poured from both sides of his face.
Huba Huba hovered in the air, licking the fresh eyes with his long, red tongue, laughing like a maniac.
Just then—
BOOOOM!!!
The scorched earth of the village violently quaked as if struck by a massive earthquake.
An incredibly heavy, masculine, and fire-spitting voice shattered the Devil's laughter into a deathly silence.
"STAY WITHIN YOUR LIMITS, UNHOLY DEMON!!!"
Huba Huba jerked backward.
His laughter caught in his throat.
From amidst the dust and drifting ash, a colossal shadow emerged.
"Stay away from that child,"
the giant man threatened with a roar.
"Who gave you permission to deal death on this soil?!"
Huba Huba growled, opening his wide jaws as he floated.
"I... I don't need anyone's permission!
I only answer to my Master Jabar...
And tell me first...
WHO ARE YOU?!"
The giant man stepped forward like a walking fortress.
His weight was so immense that the ground vibrated with his every step.
He wielded a massive, rune-engraved warhammer in one hand and an Iron Chain hook Blade in the other.
He glared at the Devil Head with glowing blue eyes and roared with an earth-shattering voice, like an Army General:
"HOLD YOUR TONGUE,
FILTHY BLOODLINE! YOU DO NOT STAND BEFORE A MERE MORTAL
; YOU STAND BEFORE THE HEARTBEAT OF THE EARTH ITSELF! MY NAME IS HAIBAT! THE ELDER GUARDIAN OF THE DIVINE DISCIPLES...
AND "THEIR ABSOLUTE SHIELD!"
Chapter End