6: Damdam Island

"Welcome to Damdam island!" Philip proclaimed. I had no doubt that this man had an endless supply of energy.

The boat landed in the sand. Philip stretched and sniffed, taking in the island air. Even the shore seemed to emit magic, the water glowed and the sand glittered like glassy white powder. The entrance to the island's interior was a tangle of vibrant trees that bent every which way and flowers that seemed to only exist in dreams. I simply couldn't begin to fathom what sort of creatures resided within its core.

"You've been here before?" I asked.

"Yeah, once, training," Philip replied, waving me off, his attention lost to the silent myriad of the island scenery.

A unusual melody rang out, distorting the silence. Of instruments, indistinguishable and unidentifiable. It shook the trees and sent a tremor through the earth.

"What's happening?" I bristled and inched towards Philip.

"Shh, they're coming." Philip had a mad man's gaze, burning with thrill and anticipation.

Out of the forest arrived a group of half-naked men. They wore leaves and shell necklaces and had on strange glowing body paint. I was perplexed, but also scared out of my mind. One of them crept towards us, turning his head from side to side as he sized us up and down. His gaze lingered on Philip and recognition flashed across his face.

"Philip?!" The stranger beamed ear to ear. "Is that you?"

Philip and his friend embraced briefly. "Bernard, how's it going man?"

Bernard laughed and cupped Philip's cheeks. "I'm good. I'm well. What brings you back?"

Philip eyed me and sighed. "This woman right here."

Bernard's scrutinizing regard returned to me. "And she is?"

"No one that should bother you." Philip shrugged. "She's caught a bad case of ogre lips, thus the scarf but enough of her, show me around, please. I'm sure much has changed since we were boys."

"Let's go, then." Bernard and his group of half-naked men led the way into the weird and dense forest. Faint sounds of bizarre instruments could be heard. The atmosphere felt of a foreign world. But Philip looked right at home.

Could I trust him? I wanted to but I had had my trust exploited before. It wasn't something I could hand out so easily.

We ended the walk at the entrance of probably the most adorable village I had ever seen. The houses were about as tall as Bernard, brightly colored and surrounded by a garden of odd flora. At the center of the village stood a building sort of like a manor.

"Man, this place has not changed at all," Sighed Philip. Bernard nodded, clapped his back and led us through the village. "Lau, still the chief?"

Bernard smiled. "You know that man won't ever die."

"Really?" I blurted.

"Yeah, he's an immortal." Philip smirked.

I narrowed my eyes, scowling.

"She doesn't bite, does she?" Bernard perked a brow.

"All bark." Philip snickered.

The men shared a laugh. Bernard wiped the corner of his eye and looked over at Philip. "She doesn't go out often?"

"One of the simple folk." Philip mocked a pout.

I ignored the two and allowed my gaze to wander around the village. Unlike Bernard the rest of the village people were tiny, not tiny enough to be dwarves but short enough that you'd take notice of it. They also wore the same sort of body covering of leaves and string and shells. They went about their day oblivious to our arrival.

I definitely felt out of place. Like an invader. This was new to me. This whole experience was new to me, but at the expense of my family. I needed to get them back, soon, who knew how long they could stay in there.

"Mo!"

Sitting before me was an old man who was probably a little over a century. The now kneeling Philip eyed me and said through clenched teeth, "get on your knees, you're standing before a chief."

My knees weakened as my gaze fell on the old chief. I lowered my sights and lowered to my knees.

"Phil, you are back," the old man said in a voice that only belonged to authority. He gave off an air of power that demanded respect and praise. Beside him sat two women, who were just as ancient. The women had swirling tattoos on their faces, while the old man had similar tattoos on his chest.

"Chief Lau, it is so great to see you again," Philip said, smiling so wide it seemed almost forced.

The old man regarded him then sighed. "I see you've brought a friend. And she is just as rude as you when you first got here. She hides her face."

I lowered my head, avoiding his scrutiny.

"Your grace, do pardon her. She is sick," I heard Bernard say from somewhere behind us.

I could feel a hundred pairs of eyes on me, perhaps more.

"Rasie your head, young one," ordered the Chief.

I did as I was told and met his eyes. "Forgive me, I never meant to disrespect you."

He took me in, silent a moment. Then nodded and waved a hand as if to shoo the matter away. He looked to Philip. "What brings you back?"

Philip cleared his throat and said, "sir, I would like to humbly request for a miniscule portion of the damdam's wake magic."

The chief's heavily-aged eyes widened to disks. "Excuse me?"

"Only a tiny amount," Philip said, touching his index finger to his thumb. "It is but a small request in comparison to what I did for Damdam island many years back."

A new layer of Philip was shed. He was so much more than a filthy flirt, I just knew.

After what felt like eons of contemplation the chief sighed. "Alright, but do not interfere with the ceremony, you would understand the consequences best."

And with that, Bernard led us away to a little hut that we would stay in for the night. But before that we were served dinner, which was mostly root vegetables and leaves, at the village mess hall with the warriors of the tribe. We exchanged goodnights and went out separate ways.

Our hut was cozy, quaint, and small, the perfect fit for one person. But thankfully there were two rooms and that was better than one.

But I didn't sleep. I couldn't sleep. I stepped out after hours of trying and failing to fall asleep only to find Philip in the living room, staring longingly out the window. Our gazes locked and we didn't say anything to each other for a moment. Two sleepless souls awake at the peak of night.

"What are you doing up?" He asked.

"Can't sleep." I shrugged.

He perked a brow.

"Don't feel sleepy," I said. "You?"

"Just got up to think."

I nodded and stood there for a little while till he said, "aren't you gonna sit?"

I joined him on the mat and he returned to staring out the window. All that could be heard was the sound of crickets and other night critters, over the wordless whispers of the ocean.

"What did you do, last time you were here?" I asked.

He smirked. "Knew you'd ask that."

"Forget it then," I muttered, turning the other way.

"I was a squire, almost a knight when I found myself travelling to this island for some training. Back then, Bernard was still another squire just like me. Didn't think much of it, had been on other trips before. But this one was different. Difficult and it tempted me to drop all my hard work in exchange for life on the island where the best of everything would be provided for me till the day I die."

"But you chose not to."

"It wasn't as simple as that. The kingdom was falling apart, people were dying everywhere I looked, and our King only cared about winning the war. All I had to do was stay, but I chose not to because I hadn't struggled my whole life to serve my kingdom just to abandon it. It was challenging on the island, almost died a couple of times, even almost got executed but survived all that till we could finally leave. But on the day of my departure, there were some problems. It was the scheduled day of the damdam's wake, and there wasn't a mage on the island except me. And I was still a rookie then. They needed a mage who had experience, who they knew could withstand the damdam's magic while waking it. I was not that person, but I was all they had. There was a good chance I'd die, but when the old chief asked me, I knew I couldn't say no. And so I performed the ceremony and in doing so sustained the island people for another year. The snail's magic is dangerous, if I had stayed, I'd perform the ceremony every year for the rest of my life till it killed me."

But something didn't add up. "If you're a mage and a knight, then who did you train under, a mage or a knight?"

"I wasn't always a mage. Didn't know I could do magic till I landed on this island."

A/n: funfact, damdam actually means snail in a language in my country, not sure which though but I'm sure it means snail. Also, my bro used to have these pet snails and man he loved snails. He'd literally shed a tear for snails that got ran over.