The lighthouse. Seonghwa should go to the lighthouse.

Seonghwa awoke on a beach of black sand. As he lifted his head groggily, some grains stubbornly stuck to his cheek and hair. The rushing of shallow waves nearby him reached his ears. It brushed his eardrums and the back of his mind to clear his befuddled thoughts. Lost, he looked around.

Right beneath his body, he found a shell partly buried in the sand. He covered it in his hands like a precious good.

A bunch of ropes and nets that Seonghwa couldn't quite place laid nearby. However, when he rose his head to look around, his eyes only skipped over a non-descriptive beach. No trace of another person was in sight. The only thing he found was a stranded hooker he examined for a while before he gave it up. The leak in its hull wouldn't get him anywhere.

Had Seonghwa come here with this? He couldn't remember.

"Am I... stranded?" As if they held the answers to his puzzlement, Seonghwa patted down his dry clothes. He found a locket in his breast pocket, a memory of his grandfather. Then, he also spotted the scars on his arms that reminded him of parallel scratch marks, as if he had gotten stuck on a garden rake. Where did they come from?

One of his scratches was fresh, but he assumed it to be from the sharp shells that dotted the beach. He must have fallen quite hard. The wound ragged disgustedly and showed the first signs of an infection. He should be careful around the sharp edges. Thankfully, he wore shoes, so they wouldn't slice his feet apart.

Once more, Seonghwa looked out over the ocean. Its rummaging surface constantly shifted and changed right before his eyes. Every innocent movement of the waves reminded him of something. Something in that water. He should leave.

As he walked along the shore, he found a little pile of shells gathered on an elevated rock. He put his next to them to add to the little collection that the birds must have created before him.

He bet that his grandfather would have liked that image. Ever since he had still been a child, he had adored collecting things. Had they come together? Seonghwa should look around for him.

As a young boy he remembered his father talking about this island, he described it in a way that would scare the listener... he spoke of black butterflies, corpse candles and broken compasses.

In the distance, a lighthouse grew from the ground to reach for the grey skies. Instantly, Seonghwa's eyes fixed on it. The lights were off and indicated no life whatsoever. Still, it could mean shelter and possibly a signal spot for Seonghwa to get found. No doubt, if his grandfather saw it, he would go there, too. They should meet up.

Come. The lighthouse invited him. Come here. Come join me.

Huffing, Seonghwa pushed his long hair that hung over his eyes out of his face. Once he got back from this confusing place, he should cut it and get rid of the choppy ends. Lifeless like algae, they hung into his eyes. The sun and the salt of the water had left their traces in it.

At the sight of a bottle nearby, Seonghwa curiously approached it. The message inside was old but still easy to read. His fingers cradled the fragile paper as if it could turn to dust if he wasn't careful.

Day 5, There was a man aboard named Yunho who went missing after we shipwrecked. One night, we found him walking alone across the beach.
As we approached him, to our surprise we saw that he had this fixed expression on his face as if he had seen something horrifying.
His hands... his hands and arms were paralysed in a position like if he was protecting himself from something. We tried to ask him questions, but he didn't reply. Now he's sitting by the shore singing songs to the rocks about reflections in the sea.

Seonghwa wasn't the only one visiting this island who got spooked by it. The place felt like time maintained it untouched. The wind and the waves always paused for a minute to rest, the calm before the storm.

Once Seonghwa had thrown the bottle back into the water, he resumed his path to the lighthouse. It would take him until the afternoon to arrive there, and he tried to stall not too much around the wrecked ships and ripped nets he found washed ashore.

To his left, a forest covered the island in a patch of greens. To his right, only the ocean and the few rocks peeking from it like the crest of a monster welcomed him. He noticed another bottle and dug it out from between two rocks.

I'm sending this message as a cry for help. May the waves of the sea be kind. Mingi and I are castaways, trying to find where this island is on the map. This doesn't make any sense. The sun is setting in the East and the fog won't allow us to see through the scope that far.
The odds are against us. There is something strange about Mingi. He keeps going on about how he's reliving this moment. I noticed how much he scratches the back of his head. It's gotten to the point where his hair is beginning to fall out.
If you are reading this, we need your help.

Seonghwa caught himself scratching the scars on his arms. Immediately, he halted in his movement. Was there still hope for the author of this message? Naturally, Seonghwa would love to help, but he needed help himself. If he stumbled upon another person, he would come to their aid for sure.

He feared getting into the same loop. Of reliving his days at this shore. He should stay alert and ensure fate didn't befall him in the same way.

Another bottle sunk into the ocean. Then, Seonghwa passed a boat with a mangled skeleton behind it. A fisherman, he believed. One of many whom the sea took as sacrifices to calm its raging every year. Seonghwa paid his respects before he continued. His stomach was in knots as he kept his eyes on the saving lighthouse.

Four candles waved at him near the sacrificial site of a man gone mad. His message read of his terrors and pleas to his god that didn't mind him. Shuddering, Seonghwa stood there for a while and looked out over the ocean.

Behind the rocks, an aeroplane had crashed. It wasn't too large, more of a glider that fit only a few people. Its metal skeleton had coloured orange from age and rust. It must have laid there for a long time, and he doubted its survivors were still around. Maybe they had been the ones to write those messages and the odd scriptures on the cliffs. Half sunken into the water, the plane looked as if it had dipped its snout in to take a sip. As it exposed its innards and the gaping hole that the stones had ripped into it, however, no sip of water seemed enough to heal its ailments.

For a while, Seonghwa looked around for survivors nearby, but he found not a single living soul. Only a bird's nest with two eggs inside. The most life he had seen here so far.

The talismans lining the pathways helped Seonghwa to find his path with ease. They led him up to the lighthouse that stood impressive and tall over the lands. The wooden door stood open partly as if somebody had expected him. Upon entering hesitantly, Seonghwa found the first floor empty and just filled with nautical equipment of different kinds. None of which looked ready to bring him over the ocean, though.

Was his grandfather here? His early arrival would spare Seonghwa of many desperate hours of searching.

When he scaled the stairs to the next floor, he did find someone. A person who was far younger than his grandfather. He sat at the loaded desk working on some documents with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. When he heard steps coming up, he turned peacefully to eye Seonghwa from chocolate brown eyes.

A pretty young man, unfitting of the harsh surroundings. Yet, he was another person and no matter what he looked like; he meant help.

"Oh! Somebody lives here!" Seonghwa exclaimed in glee. He had feared himself to be alone, but now his heart eased some of its load in his torso. The smile that spread on the man's lips was infectious, and Seonghwa couldn't help but copy it. The warmth in his chest felt familiar, even if he couldn't remember ever meeting this person before.

Thankfully, he wasn't approached with distrust. The man talked cheerfully.

"I didn't think anybody else would be around either! How are you feeling?"

Disbelieving, Seonghwa neared him. He scratched his head idly at the question. How was he feeling? Lonely, lost, scared... A lot of words that all meant negativity. His companion didn't need to know. New hope dawned upon the horizon with his arrival.

"I think I forgot parts of my memories, I can't remember much. I suppose coming here might have been distressing. Maybe it's best that I forgot. How long have you been here?"

The man nodded sympathetically and reached for the partly cracked clay jug at his side. He poured some water for Seonghwa and handed it over to him.

Seonghwa blushed at the idea that the other man had picked up on his rough voice that had been misused for long.

"A while, I also haven't found a way out of here, yet. My name is Hongjoong."

Thankful, Seonghwa took the drink to sip at it. His parched throat eased its scratching at the cool liquid that smoothed it out.

"I'm Seonghwa."

The man nodded at him, still beaming. Then, he beckoned Seonghwa over to whatever he was currently working on. A book full of rustling pages of old paper presented itself. The pages were filled with black ink and the drawing of a creature of some sorts looming in the background shadowed each text. All of them looked nothing like the animals Seonghwa knew and instead like horrific monsters that had crawled up from the depths of hell. Their dark flesh was full of scales and tentacles, reminding him of sea creatures.

"Look at this. I think it might be a hint to understand this island."

Hongjoong tapped his fingers on the page. As Seonghwa leaned closer, he barely glanced at the weight that Hongjoong used to keep the book open. It was a statue of some sorts. Depicting a head with gills and fins and tentacles like an octopus set in stone. A little tag was attached to this. It read 'The Great Old Ones.'

The page that Hongjoong had him read featured an odd creature that caught Seonghwa's gaze several times. It distracted him from the letters and he believed to see it move within the drawing. Every time he looked over, it sat perfectly still. Wary of it, he attempted to read.

This artefact we found...
This statue, it looks ancient. Our captain says we should take it back with us and that it could make us rich. Yeosang, on the other hand, believes that a foul stench of evil dwells within it. What utter rubbish. From the moment we wrecked here, he hadn't stopped talking about bad luck and otherworldly omens.
I heard him talking to himself about throwing it back to the sea.
I am almost certain he's mad. He's obsessed with those disgusting leeches he found.
He can't stop talking about how those worms have at least nine stomachs and more than thirty rains and at least eighteen testicles. He says that quality matters rather than quantity. We couldn't stop making jokes about it last night.
After some time, he took it personally, thinking we were mocking him.
He moved to the third floor of the lighthouse to continue his little experiments.

"Now see, others were here before and they accumulated this load of analysis. And a lot of them mention hysteria and insanity. Could you get me a pen?" Hongjoong bent over the book to mark a passage with his finger and search for something related to it within his mountains of paper. Quickly, Seonghwa hurried to the shelf past the old globe to pull open the third drawer. He brought the heavy metal pen back to Hongjoong, who took it to underline and scribble next to some words.

"Now, if we presume that the people we are talking about were scientists with interest in creatures and the physical happenings here, then they probably left more traces of their work around the island. If we search for it, we might find a... hideout or something where they most likely tried their best to get behind the secrets of this island. Maybe they managed to build a boat before madness took them and it's still hidden somewhere for us to take!"

Excited, Hongjoong twisted his head around to look up at Seonghwa. Faith shone in his eyes and the spark ignited Seonghwa, too. There was a way out. They just had to find it.

"Where do you reckon that might be?"

"The forest, maybe. Or one of the caves, there are a lot. Should we visit them?"

Seonghwa nodded hastily. When Hongjoong rose from his chair abruptly, they stood chest to chest for a split moment. Then, Seonghwa awkwardly cleared his throat and looked around the room. The amount of clutter made it hard to focus on a single object, so he just stared at the prominent painting of the lighthouse on the wall.

"Do you want to rest first? I'm not sure how long this will take and you came a long way."

Seonghwa mildly shook his head, albeit flattered at the kind recommendation.

"No, I want to help. We can rest once we return."

The brilliant smile that Hongjoong flashed him was full of white, straight teeth. Seonghwa wondered where he came from. Few people in their day and age had the funds to have such nice teeth. Did Hongjoong ever mention it?

"Then get me the shovel from the basement, please. The key's in the top drawer." Hongjoong hurried upstairs to gather some different equipment. Docile, Seonghwa got the key and went downstairs.

He should send a message in a bottle before they left. Maybe it would find its way to a nearby civilised island and ensure support.

The heavy trap door to the basement had not been used for a while. As Seonghwa stemmed open the lazily assembled pieces of driftwood that created the lid, the smell of seawater and decaying vegetation hit him.

Orange candles greeted him and lit up his path over asymmetrical and slippery stairs.

Seonghwa saw the body first.

When the sight greeted him he had yet to step down fully from the stairs. The sudden shock that seized his heart had him slip, and he tumbled down the last three steps. When he lost his balance, he fell backwards and hit his tailbone on the stone stairs painfully. Yet, his brain barely registered the pain as he stared up ahead.

The corpse looked scarily alive in the first moment. Only when Seonghwa blinked his big eyes twice, he noticed the grey tint and stony stiffness to its skin. It sat upright, leaned against the stone wall and with a barrel behind its back. He would have mistaken it as a person reading or writing a book in their lap if not for their stillness.

Slowly, he came to his feet as wetness soaked his pants. The cave was dimly lit by the candles protected from the winds and the ocean inside here. Yet, the distant rushing of waves still reached Seonghwa's ears.

It had become white noise by now. He barely even noticed his closeness to the ocean anymore.

As he neared the body, his eyes flickered over to the metal bars that cut the other half of the cave off. They looked like cells, and even if the doors were far open, he couldn't fathom why they would be needed.

The corpse to his feet had huddled together with its arms, and feet crossed to sustain maximum warmth. Yet, the freezing temperatures had eaten all life away from it and left only a hollow shell of skin and bones. Not even hair was left on its head. The bottle of wine and spoilt food next to them were untouched. A bucket and a spoon laid nearby.

How did they manage to let them die in here? What made them forsake their civil ways? This person most likely had been one of the crew members he had read about.

Seonghwa reached out a trembling hand for the papers by their side. He had to support his right hand with the left one to make sure he wouldn't knock something over. Once he grasped the papers, he pulled back to skim the text with jittery eyes.

I had to hide. I had to. I ran. I climbed the rocks and tried to hide!
That's when I fell into a pit full of dead bodies.
Their flesh looked rotten but petrified as if their soul sucked dry out of them.
The horrors in their faces touched the very void of my soul.
Expressions as something horrific happened to them.
That's when the rest of the crew caught me.
They stripped me naked, and they locked me down here.
They accused me that I was the one that brought the bad luck onto them by placing those talismans for them and blocking the pathways. All I wanted was to keep them safe despite their uncivilized behaviours.

Shivering, Seonghwa let the note sink.

Bad luck. Talismans. Crew members who distrusted and stabbed each other in the backs. Madness had befallen those men like a sickness. Not curable and gradually spinning out of control to reach its peak in murder.

Terrified, Seonghwa looked around. He feared that somebody of the crew might have survived. That a winner had emerged from their paranoid attacks on each other.

But the cave remained barren and hollow. Water dripped from the wet stones nearby.

Seonghwa carefully placed the letter next to the corpse again and nodded in respect. This man had found a cruel end despite fighting for his team. Seonghwa prayed that a kind god had taken care of his soul.

Had he truly fallen into a pit of dead bodies? Or had his mind played tricks on him? Seonghwa didn't want to know.

In search of the shovel, he let the man rest and ventured deeper inside the cave. The old metal cells creaked when he stepped in. The old shovel rested against a wall in a corner next to a cage. It resembled those he knew from history books about the dark middle ages. Cages that hung in front of the city walls and carried the starving bodies of criminals as their guts for all world to see. A reminder.

He had seen two more of those cages upstairs in front of the lighthouse. They had been empty, but this one had a few bones inside.

The sailor outside had most likely escaped the cell but not the cellar. What a cruel fate.

Seonghwa took the shovel and fled the scene. Only when he was back underneath the open sky, he felt as if he could breathe again. He locked the basement door securely behind him. The claustrophobia that had seized his lungs and shortened his breaths lifted off him to disappear.

Hongjoong stood at his desk again and searched for something when Seonghwa returned. The shovel waited for them leaned against the wall near the entrance as Seonghwa waited for the man. He was still huddled in his blanket and looked small in the large room.

"Are you ready to go?"

Seonghwa didn't question that they barely knew each other. He felt as if he had already met Hongjoong before, in a life before this. Since he was the only other person he had encountered on this island so far, Seonghwa much preferred his company over the suffocating loneliness that this island offered.

"Wait just a moment. I have a present for you." Hongjoong threw him a fleeting smile that had Seonghwa step closer curiously. Like a moth attracted to light.

"You do?"

"Yeah, sit down on the bed. Did something happen? You look pale." His rustling stopped for when he watched Seonghwa go over to sit down. The rubber-like material that his legs had become had yet to shift back to flesh and bones.

"Just startled at the basement. It was scary." Seonghwa leaned back to lie on the bed comfortably. The scratchy blankets felt soft on his weathered skin.

"Ah, the professor? That's what I call him. He has been there ever since I arrived."

How strange to say that. Would he suspect Seonghwa of claiming that he killed the man?

When Hongjoong suddenly knelt between Seonghwa's legs and shifted them further apart, his mind was wiped clean instantly. Attentive, he rose his head. Hongjoong halted where he had just settled his hands on the waistband of Seonghwa's pants. As if waiting for permission to proceed, he tilted his skull.

"I want to help you relax. Not if you don't want to, though. We can just go if you're too tense." His long lashes fluttered as he lowered his eyes. Seonghwa's insides swooshed at the gorgeous view between his legs.

"No, I- Go on."

They didn't talk about the basement anymore even if they should. But Seonghwa was too preoccupied with unclenching all of his muscles and slackening into the sheets. Without paranoia eating away at the back of his mind and making him scratch his body all over as if it were a physical itch he had to get rid of, he found some peace. Not another hitch came from him as Hongjoong unbuckled his pants and reached inside to stroke Seonghwa's length to life. It reacted to him quicker than Seonghwa had anticipated in their setting. His blood sang in his veins.

Hongjoong's warm mouth kissed along his hardness and shared his heat with Seonghwa. The room wasn't too cold for him, but he only felt the stiffness in his joints when it blended from him. When Hongjoong sunk down on him entirely, Seonghwa didn't even have the strength to reach for his hair.

As if he had known his body forever, Hongjoong knew exactly what to do. He knew which points to put pressure on and just how to use his tongue to lure blissful sighs from Seonghwa. All the while, Hongjoong's hands massaged all over him, his thighs, his chest, and his hips. They explored him and mapped his body out, but dipped into his curves as they were his old friends, too. His head bobbed at a swift but manageable pace. The pace he knew Seonghwa liked.

Seonghwa didn't think about it. He focused entirely on the real and tangible sensations on his skin and how much he had missed another human. How long had it been? It felt like weeks since he had last embraced his mother and that was all the touch he could remember. Ever since he had been young, he had been a sucker for body warmth and the comfort it brought him. He wanted to feel Hongjoong all over him.

As heat and pleasure gradually built in Seonghwa's stomach, he allowed himself a few gentle thrusts of his hips. Readily, Hongjoong took them and let his jaw slacken as he wrapped both arms around Seonghwa's thighs. As tremors shook his body and made him buck too wildly, Hongjoong held him down and took care of him in the best ways.

When Seonghwa came, the other man didn't bother to pull away. He worked Seonghwa through his orgasm while he stifled his moans behind his wrist and believed to transgress the planes of the universe from how good he felt in that split moment.

Once Seonghwa's body stopped trembling from honeyed pleasure, Hongjoong pulled off him and neatly tucked him back into his pants. Then, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

From lidded eyes, Seonghwa stared up at him. When Hongjoong gave him a charming smile, he sat up to reach for the man's hips. Hongjoong was smaller than Seonghwa by a few centimetres and his waist nearly fit into his hands entirely. He arched into the touch when Seonghwa's fingers encompassed most of its width.

"You too?"

Hongjoong shook his head with another grin.

"Later. Do you feel better? We can set out whenever you want."

"I do. Thank you." Seonghwa's words were sincere and didn't hint only at the impromptu sex. Hongjoong's very presence and the ease he offered Seonghwa relieved him. What had he been thinking about earlier? It didn't matter.

"May I write a message in a bottle before we leave?"

"Of course." While Hongjoong sprung up the stairs to get him a bottle, Seonghwa used the antique pen and an unused page from one of the notebooks to write.

Dear finder of this bottle.
We direly need help. I, a friend, and my grandfather have stranded on an island. The one that fisherman are ill-advised to go to. We need you to send out a help troop to get us away from here. Even a small boat is enough. If somebody comes for us, they need to heed the reefs. A lot of good boats shattered on there.
If you read this, consider yourself a saviour to us. Whether you help yourself or just forward this message, you are the most precious person in our lives right now.
I want to sign this with the current date just so you know if we might still be alive by the time you get us, but I'm afraid I lost my perception of time. When I landed here a few days ago, it was probably the end of September. The weather here fits.
Please, find us soon and aid our case. We will wait for you.

Seonghwa used a thread from his pullover to tie up the paper. Then, he stuffed it in the bottle that Hongjoong already offered him. They made sure it was corked soundly before they made their way out of the lighthouse.

As Hongjoong accompanied Seonghwa down the stairs, he took a duffel bag and a book with him. He also packed a dagger as if he feared that something out there might not be friendly with them. Seonghwa doubted that a regular knife would protect them from the horrors that lurked in the waters, but he didn't mention it. He carried the shovel as Hongjoong strayed from the path and led them further up the hill towards the forests.

Seonghwa took a moment to send his bottle out into the water before he pursued him. His feet had difficulties finding purchase on the slippery sand that covered the rocks leading up, but he fought the rough terrain with his hands and toes. After a steep rise, they already stepped onto the more elevated area further away from the shore. The flow of the waves was more diluted back here, but the sound still reached Seonghwa's ears faintly. Wherever he looked upon the horizon, no other island and nothing but water showed in the constant fog.

"Also, please keep an eye out for my grandfather. He must have stranded here somewhere with me. I don't know if he's already wandering the island, but I think it important that we find him," Seonghwa told Hongjoong with a worried frown. Instantly, the man saluted.

"Of course. I think if he was on the move, I would have spotted him from the lighthouse already, but we'll keep our eyes open." Hongjoong's small hand patted Seonghwa's arm. It was a brief gesture, but it spent all the comfort Seonghwa could ask for.

Slowly and carefully, they made their way over the rocky terrain. Usually, Seonghwa would have stayed to look at his surroundings and let his fascination with the volcanic island run wild. But today, he merely passed it all hurriedly. He wanted to find that lair and his grandfather and know all of them safe.

"I admire your resilience. In both mind and body, you're extraordinary."

Blushing, Seonghwa swiped his gaze along the beach. Why was he acting like a naive schoolgirl when it came to Hongjoong? It was a mystery to him. They barely knew each other and met in such dire circumstances. It was hardly the time to get flustered.

"Not at all... I fear this island a lot. Sometimes, I feel trapped and paranoid. I expect something to jump at me from every corner." As if on cue, Seonghwa stifled his flinch at the sudden call of a seagull above them.

He should turn back. A little voice in the back of his head still told him to stay wary.

Don't fall asleep, it whispered as if he had any control about that. Never fall asleep.

"I feel as if my mind wants me to go in different directions and I'm torn about which one to go."

Hongjoong hummed in understanding. Ever so empathetic, he shared Seonghwa's struggle even now.

"I assure you, if we help each other we can get off here. If you are aware of another voice... ignore it. We are one step closer to achieving what we came for. Do not let the chasm of the void take you. I will do my utmost to ensure our safety. You can trust me."

Of course. What else would he do? Seonghwa knew that on this island of uncertainties, the only person he could rely on was Hongjoong. Hongjoong and his spirit. If Seonghwa were entirely alone, frenzy would have taken him long ago.

The woods neared with every step. From up close, they looked welcoming. The vibrant greens of different plants were a fleck of colour on the grey island and the palm trees bent towards the sky as they would elsewhere as well. The forest wasn't too overgrown and a lot of light filtered through the treetops. For a moment, Seonghwa could forget where he was. This might as well be a forest not too far from his home. One of those he had played with his friends in as a kid. He had collected nuts and stones there and made potions with them.

Escaping from reality was the only thing that kept his mind clear.

"I know to trust you, Hongjoong. All I want is to find my grandfather and leave. With you."

When he glanced down at the man, Hongjoong's brown hair bounced on his head as he nodded. Determination seized both of them.

"Aye, let's do that."

They entered the forest carefully. The bones of dead fish laid around here and there to trace back to the seagulls in the trees. Their laughing voices followed and mocked them, as the duo gradually ventured deeper.

The humid air made Seonghwa's hair stick to his nape and forehead. He threw it away regularly, but his sweat would attract the first mosquitoes soon. He prayed they found a cooler and secure place as soon as possible. And he would need to get rid of that hair.

They had no traces to follow. All they could do was walk a few steps apart from each other and trace through the thicket to find anything of help. The faint wind rustled in the trees as if it made them whisper. Yet, their voices sounded hollow compared to other forests that Seonghwa knew. They didn't talk of secrets and fun games to play. They seemed empty like the void; as if their souls had been sucked from them and left only their shells.

He wasn't cold, but he kept shivering anyway. He didn't like this place, as much as it was just a lonely island. One of many. The ocean was full of these. With no dangers nearby, he had no reason to fear this one more than any other. Yet, this place was so much more unfriendly and hostile than any other he had been to before.

When Seonghwa brushed a large fern aside to step behind it, he ripped a piece off. He liked how the surface felt in his hands. Familiar and lively. Better than those dead rocks and bones all around.

Soon, he found something he regarded as a road.

Some shells were strewn on the ground trailing a path like the lifeline Hansel and Gretel had left behind them as their father had ditched them in the forest. Albeit them being far from the ocean here, the shells had found their way over and lead a white trace through the jungle. Instantly, Seonghwa pointed it out to Hongjoong. The man lit up like a lighthouse himself when he examined it.

"That must be it! A hidden hint for those after them! Let's follow it, I'm sure it leads us to the legacy of the crew!" Excited with relief and aspirations, Hongjoong led the way. Seonghwa followed him cautiously and made sure not to shift or break even a single shell.

They wandered the forest in a straight line. Until abruptly, Hongjoong halted. From one step to the other, the trail ended. From how short it had been, Seonghwa doubted its authenticity for a moment.

Then, he settled his eyes on something on a tree close to them. A knife had penetrated the bark deep, and it pinned a photograph to it. Black and white with a faint yellow filter over it. Curious, Seonghwa stepped closer.

It showed three men at the black shore, and a fourth one must have taken the picture. Only one man was standing, the other two laid in heaps on the ground as if they had fallen asleep. Seonghwa couldn't see the face of the upright man since the blade of the dagger had ripped clean through it. He did, however, see the even more strange presence of something else in the background. Behind the man standing upon the rocks without a head, something dark shadowed the background. An enormous creature, not entirely captured by the camera. It could have been a rock if Seonghwa didn't see that it was taken at the beach with his back to the ocean.

Tentacles turned around the stone he stood on as if on the prosecution to destroy the camera and the beholder. When Seonghwa squinted his eyes, they seemed to jerk forward into his direction.

Startled, he stumbled back. When Hongjoong twisted to check on him worriedly, the picture remained perfectly still and unsuspecting.

Seonghwa's heart pounded in his chest.

Had the island domesticated an octopus? Seonghwa had never seen one of this size. The tentacles wrapping around the stone looked thicker than Seonghwa's arm. Had it attacked the men at the shore? How did the one on top not notice? Was he too busy posing for the picture?

A million questions clouded Seonghwa's mind. The way that Hongjoong's face darkened when he scrutinised the picture, too, was no good sign either.

"So they had a camera... Maybe if we find it... It seems they captured some interesting moments," he murmured. Seonghwa agreed with him silently. His fingers scratched his wounded arm nervously again.

"Come. I don't think we should be looking at this."

Seonghwa stumbled behind him as he followed, but he couldn't help his eyes from travelling back a few times. Only now, he saw the dead seagull beneath the picture. And the doll made from wood and leaves above in its branches.

A talisman?

Shivering, Seonghwa turned to look at Hongjoong's stiff back again. The man seemed just as perturbed as him.

The forest gradually sunk to incline downhill. Seonghwa couldn't quite spot where they were going, but the line of shells had ended. They just explored through the branches aimlessly.

Soon, something akin to a crater appeared through the clearing forest. It settled in between as if a few trees had just been erased. And more boulders black as the very core of this island welcomed them.

When they neared, Seonghwa could feel his stomach gradually cramp more and more. His aches got to the point where he practically needed to stop. The rummaging inside his stomach was not quite akin to having to vomit or an ordinary tummy ache. It felt as if a vicious fist had grabbed and squished his very organs.

Since Hongjoong showed no signs of disturbance, however, Seonghwa still kept along.

The pit was man-made.

A towering wall, taller than Seonghwa's height dropped from the outer crater to the pit in the middle. Black sand covered the ground of the round area formed like the Colosseum that the ancient Romans had battled in. It was far smaller, but it did fit piles and piles of pale bones detected from their vantage point. Who in the world would come here? Had they finally found the project that the researchers had been working on all this time? Had they found their end here?

Something else pulled Seonghwa's eyes in, even more than the questionable remains that made his heart jump in his chest nervously.

The object in the middle.

It was nothing but a black orb, so perfectly spherical and polished to perfection. The sky mirrored in it, and as they came closer, it seemed even more like an obsidian gem.

The pit was so eerily wrong and looked like a trap how it would be described in the books.

White paintings covered the walls. Of monsters, of odd runes, and the same unknown language that Seonghwa had detected on the cliffs before.

He stood petrified with fear. Hongjoong next to him didn't dare move either.

What was this place? What under God's shining grace could this be if not an entrance to hell as he designed it?

This entire island was the last element living souls saw before they crossed over into an eternity of suffering and anguish. The way those bones had frozen, clawing at the walls or crawling towards the middle all spoke of terror. Unmoving, their locations gave their dread away.

What a macabre joke to build this. The walls were polished smooth to perfection. Nobody who entered came back out.

"Seonghwa... I need you to do something for me."

Seonghwa's heart chilled in his chest. He didn't even dare turn his head to Hongjoong.

Don't. Don't ask me to do this.

Bones, wherever he looked. Like decorations, they spotted the rocks even around the pit.

"Proceed to the pit. We need this thing."

"Why?" Seonghwa's voice trembled no matter how bravely he tried to swallow around it. The single word tasted ashen and hopeless on his tongue.

He would go. He already knew it.

"It might be a key to free us. See how many tried to take it. I believe we need it."

Seonghwa could see that. But he also saw how many had died trying.

"W-Why? Why would we try when so many died doing that?"

"They tried even after the first skeleton. And the second. And the third. It has to be important."

Finally, they looked at each other. Seonghwa's blown eyes and pale face echoed in Hongjoong's eyes.

"I will help you up. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

Right. He could depend on Hongjoong. He always did. And Hongjoong had never let him down.

Hesitant, Seonghwa took a step closer to the pit of doom. He heard his blood rushing in his ears. Hastily, he dried his sweaty palms on his pants. He didn't want to slip just because of them.

The same wooden talismans that created the path to the lighthouse were here, too. The professor in the basement had been here with his crew. No doubt, they lost someone in this place.

Which pile of bones might he be? Seonghwa pushed off the ghastly thought.

As he halted at the rim of the pit, he looked down with a nervous gulp. A few statues, preserved bodies just like the one in the basement stood here. They sunk partly into the puddle of water on the ground. Some of them had protected their torsos with their arms and their eyes were widened in fear. Mute and without life, their bodies tore apart as if they were made of stone.

With a shuddering breath, Seonghwa sat down on the edge to bring his legs over it first. Hongjoong crouched next to him with a grim expression etched into his features. He was concerned.

"Just get it and come back to take my hand. I don't know what killed those men but we don't want to experience the same fate."

Seonghwa nodded timidly.

He could do this for Hongjoong. Hongjoong knew the way, he had read all those books.

Seonghwa pushed himself off the edge. He came to his feet securely and splashed water everywhere. Then, he immediately hurried past one of the statues to the elevated rock in the middle. As he snatched the orb, it weighed heavy and cold in his hand.

He threw it at Hongjoong.

The man caught it in his hands securely and put it inside his bag. Seonghwa rushed past the bodies and the bones. The hairs on the back of his neck stood when he felt the icy wind skim over them like a breath. With his jaw clenched, he ran. If a monster emerged behind him, he wouldn't mind. He could only go.

Hongjoong reached out for him. Without a second of waiting, Seonghwa grabbed his hand and moved for the edge as soon as he was up far enough. Together, they pulled him from the pit.

For a moment, Seonghwa believed to black out from the stress of the situation. His blood rang too loud, the waves overwhelmed him, and the grains of sand bit at his skin viciously.

He breathed shallow and hastened as he curled up around his cramping muscles and organs.

Then, at once, everything disappeared. His blurry sight cleared to the plain view of the ground.

Hongjoong was still by his side and he had grabbed his shoulder soothingly to keep him from trashing.

Relieved, Seonghwa sucked a big breath into his lungs. From how they screamed at him, he had forgotten to do that for a while now.

"You did it. Breathe deeply. You're fine."

Seonghwa's nails dug bloody crescents into his scarred arms as he clutched them for dear life.

"I must be going crazy... Absolutely crazy..." he murmured to himself.

Once he felt the pain in his arms, Seonghwa calmed. Nothing grounded him more to mortality and his life than pain. As long as he felt pain, he was alive.

Slowly, Seonghwa sat up.

"What do you think? Will it be able to help?" His voice was still hoarse. With another rub of his shoulder, Hongjoong patted his bag.

"We'll find out. But first, let's go back to the lighthouse. I think we got everything that we needed."

Seonghwa hesitated to leave, but he took the hand that Hongjoong offered him. Their skin brushed against each other warmly.

"You think this is all they left? Nothing more helpful?" Seonghwa didn't mean to sound desperate, but he couldn't help the disappointment that laced his tone.

Instantly, Hongjoong shook his head.

"There might be more, but I was concerned about your health. Will you be fine if we continue? You look shaken." Before Seonghwa had to answer, Hongjoong pulled him into a hearty hug. His small but broad body cuddled up against Seonghwa and filled him with compassion. Softened by the display of affection despite them basically being strangers, Seonghwa embraced him too. Their shared moments of tapping in the dark had brought them together fast.

"I want to scope out everything. Any trace will be helpful, and we might miss an important step if we skip an extensive search. Let's stay for a little while longer."

Hongjoong nodded decisively as he pulled back. Then, he took Seonghwa's hand in his as if he wanted to make sure that he didn't get lost. The sweet minor act calmed Seonghwa further. He chose not to think about the pit anymore as they strolled away from it and back deeper into the woods.

To ease both of them, Seonghwa kicked up some conversation as they observed their surroundings.

"Say, I saw some of those scriptures around. Did you find anything in the books about them?"

Hongjoong held a branch aside for Seonghwa to pass. The taller man mumbled a quiet thanks.

"I wish. I found some texts that were written exclusively in that language but had the same handwriting like some of the English ones. Either they didn't bother to explain further or they themselves didn't know that they switched languages. It's unfortunate. I'm afraid it might mean nothing and just be the scribbles of men gone mad."

"What else do they write about?" When Seonghwa heard the flap of wings above them, he glanced over his shoulder. Nothing moved.

"About different things... Some of them describe the decline of their mental health while they spent time here. Others wrote poetry to convey their feelings. A lot of them are prayers, too. Not to any god I have heard before, though."

Where Seonghwa came from, most people were Christians. They went to church every Sunday, they celebrated Easter and Christmas and they practised altruism. A lot of the old people that made up the largest demographic there had crosses in their houses and cited bible verses when asked for guidance. Seonghwa himself had been brought up by his Christian grandparents, even if he himself didn't believe too much in religions. If he ever sent a prayer to any god, however, it would be Him.

"What god? Maybe the fishermen's villages nearby have a differing perspective than ours."

"They call them the Great Old Ones. I found quite a few mentions of them in their books. I don't quite get behind their meaning or what they have to do with this island in particular but I think it's as you say. The pagan deities of this lonely spot on earth. The Pacific is vast. I'm sure there's a lot of deities here we never heard of before."

Seonghwa nodded. Hongjoong was presumably right. The ocean had a lot of secrets it didn't like to share with mortal eyes.

"I also read something. About a slumbering god. Maybe he slumbers and thus doesn't witness how his suspects descend into madness."

He learned it somewhere. He couldn't remember when or where, but he did. The dull memory of it was blurry in the back of his head, but he carried it around nonetheless.

Hongjoong kicked a rock out of his path. His eyes mostly searched the ground for traces while Seonghwa's eyes stayed up to check for more pictures on the barks of the curved trees. No other trace of the researchers was to find, but he counted the unsettling orb as a win already. At least they wouldn't return with empty hands.

"Seems like it. No god should turn a blind eye to the horrors they described. When they show not an ounce of interest, then you know you are truly lost."

Gradually, Hongjoong's steps slowed before he came to a full stop. Both of them looked around cluelessly, finding no other hint of life or clues in their surroundings.

"Maybe we should go back. I don't think there's anything more out here and I don't want nighttime to surprise us."

This time, Seonghwa approved of his words. The hours of wandering had made his feet wound and his ankles arched from the many stones they fought today. They could continue tomorrow.

Seonghwa pushed his annoying hair back as he turned to follow Hongjoong the way back. Thankfully, the man had a good sense of orientation.

"Do you have a god you believe in?" Seonghwa inquired quietly. Something told him that the answer was no, but the shaking of Hongjoong's head still surprised him.

"If I had, I would have lost faith in them by now. Who knows how long they ditched me here, I can't tell. Me, not remembering serves their ignorance well." He sounded bitter as if he had tried often to call out for them. Yet, the void remained empty for him.

Just like for any person who had come here before them.

"So you also don't recall..." It was no surprise. Whether it was the accident or the shock of being lost itself, the human brain was fragile. It shrouded them in darkness with the same fog that enveloped the entire island.

"I don't. I could be stuck in this loop that they described, the one where they keep repeating the same day over and over again like the devil's personal torture program and I wouldn't know. We could have met before. But I don't know if we did. You do seem familiar to me, though. Like an old friend."

Hongjoong had to pause to wipe his eyes at that. His face was marred with stress and anxiety.
Seonghwa couldn't help himself. He spun to draw the man into a gentle embrace. Once more today they shared their fears and strength.

"I feel the same. And I think that the two of us meeting and possibly doing this over and over again means that we hold out strongly. We probably made progress already, right? Maybe we collected all those books we keep finding!"

Hongjoong sniffled against his chest. Exhaustion weighed on him too heavily to cry much, but the few tears that soaked Seonghwa's shirt wet his shoulder warmly. Seonghwa's hands rubbed soothing circles onto his back.

"Yes. Yes, you're right. Maybe we did... But I think there is still a lot that we don't know." Pitiful, Hongjoong wiped his tears on Seonghwa's shirt to look up at him. His eyes weren't reddened, but they carried misery and despair. Both of which Seonghwa didn't enjoy seeing on his lovely face.

He dipped down to kiss the man. The simple act of devotion was all he had to offer, and he tried to convey all the comfort he could give in it. Sweetly, and as if the world wasn't out for them and every god had forsaken their grace, the two kissed under a green palm tree. Soft lips that promised the optimism and love still left on the world whispered sweet nothings into each other's souls.

After a few minutes of falling into the feeling, both were considerably calmer. And they parted with a shy redness dusting each of their cheeks. Seonghwa had to smile at how Hongjoong's hands trailed from his waist only hesitantly.

"Come on, let's go back. I still owe you something for earlier. Let me repay the favour."

Hongjoong giggled coquettishly, but he allowed Seonghwa to take his hand. They even switched sides so he could wear his bag on his comfortable shoulder.

"I feared I was moving too fast earlier given that we don't remember... But it felt just so natural to me. Honestly, I think our bodies know each other far better than we do."

The thought - as hot as it made Seonghwa's face - summarised his theories. The muscle memory of both of them worked better than their diffuse brains.

"We should try later. And see how far we got," Seonghwa said with a teasing grin. Hongjoong snickered behind his hand, but he agreed.

The sky showed no signs of changing into the night as they returned. Yet, Hongjoong suggested that they should rest soon.

They washed the sweat of their voyage off their bodies to get rid of the fly-attracting stench. Then, they tumbled into bed together and with their arms wrapped tightly around each other's bodies. They spent a few hours forgetting the world and indulging in carnal pleasure. By the time they both had enough, Seonghwa was barely awake enough to blow out the candle on the nightstand.

They curled up in bed together with the sheets still heated and smelling of them as he fell asleep. Nightmares haunted him.

He saw the pit they had visited today, but he viewed it from a bird's eye. As if he had slipped into the role of a seagull in his dreams, he glanced upon the scene of himself and Hongjoong nearing the place. Yet, the setting was all wrong. They wore different clothing and Hongjoong's figure flickered oddly as if the light couldn't quite break around him.

Seonghwa did everything backwards. He crawled into the pit and placed the orb there, surrounded by skeletons and death. And then, he came back out. He said something to Hongjoong, and he sounded spiteful and full of hatred.

Dark images blurred the dream, of monsters and tentacles and ancient scriptures.

And once more, a voice spoke to him. Dark and distorted, but clearer than the last time he had heard it. Seonghwa remembered that voice. He could make out just a few words.

And now through the depths, you will find your destiny.

Seonghwa fell into the water. Icy cold and thick it closed above his head. His first instinct was to gasp for air, but he reminded himself to stay calm.

When he looked around, he only saw a plethora of algae and colourful fish. And sunken ships. So many sunken ships. Ships of all forms and colours. They all had been sliced open and impaled by the sharp reefs. A submarine, a huge metal monster, had also found its way here and laid on its side like a colossal giant that had fallen.

And up ahead, stuck in the sand, was Hongjoong. Algae that wrapped around his legs and feet held him. No matter how futilely he pulled on them, they wouldn't let go. No desperate movement brought him back to the surface.

"Help me!" He screamed at Seonghwa. "Please, I can't leave this place without your help!"

But when Seonghwa neared to lend him a hand, he saw that the algae were actually tentacles. And their suckers ripped deep wounds into Hongjoong's flesh whenever they gripped him anew. His blood fused with the water, more and more by the second.

Violent images, once more. Then, Seonghwa saw himself sitting at the shore, writing a message. He glanced over his own shoulder to read.

Hongjoong and I came to a curious short of an agreement. My lack of empathy has phased out any trace of fear. How did my monotonous self come closer to the fact that nothing surprises me anymore? Have I lost my humanity?

Hongjoong's voice replied in his mind, and it mixed with the grotesque and deep voice that messed with Seonghwa's head.

Not lost, but discovering its true potential. How far will you go, Seonghwa? How far will you go, for me?

They split up on the last word. Hongjoong said me. The other voice said him.

Seonghwa yet didn't hesitate in his answer. After today, he knew.

Courageously, he rose his head to look out over the ocean. Dark symbols blurred the frame of his sight, but he didn't mind them or the need to vomit they induced in him.

"I would fall into the darkest pit to save him."

Without humour, the dark voice replied.

So be it.

Then, Seonghwa lost his footing and was descending.