He was drifting in and out of consciousness.

He remembered a bright light then all of a sudden darkness.

But now it was just darkness. Did he die? That was the first thought that came to him.

But then, out of nowhere that guy stood with his back facing him.

“Benny?”

He tried to call out to him but he didn’t reply. He simply walked away.

“Wait! Where are you going?”

But he continued to walk away. He tried to chase after him but something invisible gripped his chest and held him down.

“Wha? What is this?!”

Benny stopped walking for a moment but didn’t turn to face him. Instead, he uttered a few words.

“…to the north…your birthright awaits…”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Benny began to walk away once more.

“No! Come back! Where the hell are you going? Don’t leave me here-”

He was fading into the darkness.

“Benny! Come back!”

“Shut up and wake up already!”

A sudden impact went straight into his gut.

“GUUHOUOO?!!”*

Ace’s body formed a “V” shaped position before crumpling flat on the ground.

“Are you finally awake, Pabby?”

“Terri! You didn’t have to do that!”

“Well, at least he’s a wake now.”

Through teary eyes, he sees the figure of his great rival and annoyance and right beside her was a beauty of an airhead, childhood friend.

Judging from Terri’s raised fist he knew exactly who caused him that paint in his gut.

“What the hell was that for?”

“Well, how long are you going to sleep in the sand like some side character of L*ST?”

Sand?

Ace finally realizes he was on some sandy beach from somewhere. Because he was rolling around after being punched, he was practically coated in sand like some breaded chicken.

“You’ve been unconscious the time! We were so worried!” says Anna, who looked very relieved. “I’m so glad you’re alright!”

“Well, not exactly. He’s pretty beaten up if you ask me.”

“And whose fault was it?! Ow!” retorts Ace as he tries to sit up but he soon felt a wince of pain.

It wasn’t just from Terri’s fist but his whole body was battered and bruised like he had just gone through blender. To be frank, he was still confused about what just happened.

“What happened?”

“Can you remember what happened?”

Ace tried to remember the events all that transpired last night.

They were riding on Anna’s new yacht. An unexpected storm caught up with them. Anna’s chauffeur, Manong Dario got struck by lightning. The terror of the ship about to be capsized…

“We got shipwrecked…but…”

Something weird happened.

Anna became possessed and began muttering some strange lines that sent chills down their spines.

Ace gave Anna a long gaze.

“W-What is it, Pablo?”

“Err…do you remember what happened?”

“All I remember is creaming in panic…then a bright light? I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

“Nothing…It’s just the same thing for me.”

It would seem Anna doesn’t know what happened to herself. From the looks of things, Terri didn’t tell her either.

That aside, Ace still tried to remember.

What really finished it all was a flash of bright light.

“Things went crazy really fast.”

“You can say that again.”

Ace looked around his surroundings. “So where exactly are we then?”

“That is…We have no idea…” say Terri.

“We just woke up to find ourselves by the beach.” says Anna while gazing around. “It’s really beautiful…I want to take a selfie-”

“Let’s turn our attention back to things at hand, Anna.” Terri puts a hand on her shoulder.

Anna blushed, “Ah, yes… Terri found me unconscious a little far from here and while were searching around we found you. You were out of it a little longer than us.”

“You kept muttering Benny’s name all over. What are you his boyfriend or something? Do you actually swing that way?”

“That isn’t the least bit funny. But hey…where is Benny?”

He only just noticed that Benny was nowhere to be found.

Both Anna and Terri fell silent. But then Anna began to sob greatly while Terri comforted her.

Ace knew from their reactions what the answer was.

“Benjamin…Manong Dario…” Anna sobbed.

Now that Anna mentioned it. Manong Dario was nowhere to be found either.

“We tried to look for them but there’s no trace of them.”

It took a few minutes for the thought to sink in. Ace felt a sharp pain in his heart. That dream he had just had. Was that a premonition?

“Well, let’s not tarry around here. Let’s go find help.”

Ace’s sudden declaration shocked the two girls.

“Oi! Aren’t you worried for Benny?! He’s your best friend, isn’t he?”

“Who says I wasn’t! I’m worried as hell! But what are we going to do? Mope around? That won’t get us anywhere!”

“Ugh…”

“We need to find help and alert the coast guard. That should be our priority.” Ace says with finality.

“You do have a point.” Anna stands up and brushes the sand of her dress. “We can’t just stay here. We need to find help at once. Everyone must be worried about us.”

“You’re right.” says Terri.

Terri relents knowing that they were right although she really disliked the idea of agreeing with Ace.

“Huh? What was that?” Ace smirks at her, clearly showing that he did hear her but was just playing deaf.

“I said…you were right.” grumbles Terri.

“I can’t exactly hear you. Can you say it a little louder-OW!?”

Terri pinches him in the ear.

“Don’t push your luck, Pabby!”

“KYAAAHHH!!!”

Anna suddenly screamed at the top of her voice. Both Terri and Ace jolted as a result.

“W-What?! Why are you screaming?”

“Did you see something?!”

They turned around to find her looking at the pocket mirror she was always carrying.

“My hair is gone frizzy! I can’t let anybody see me like this!”

She quickly tries to fix her hair.

““…””

At least, they were off to an energetic start.

***

The three decided to investigate their immediate surroundings, trying to check for clues as to where they might be while also looking for.

Earlier, they also tried checking their phones if they have a connection. Obviously due to what had happened last night their phones were sent to the afterlife after being submerged in seawater. Anna lamented that a lot of her contacts and pictures were gone. Well, that and numerous other things such as her hair (which she temporarily fixes by tying it into a ponytail with a handkerchief), her messed-up designer clothes and how she had to go barefoot since her sandals went missing.

But it did not take long for her to remain depressed.

“Uwaah! This beach really is so beautiful!” says Anna as she skips around the edge of the waves.

She splashes around with a twirl, creating one of those picture perfect effects that made her looked like a barefooted summer beach model. The sight of which would make anyone think this was commercial or a movie scene.

“Anna really does have the flair for the theatrics. She really has what it takes to be a model like her mom.” remarks Terri.

“And she doesn’t even know about it. I’ve lost count how many guys have fallen for her.”

In truth, a lot of boys would’ve had their hearts shot by cupid’s arrows had they seen this.

Ace admits to himself that he does find her charming but because he knew how much a handful Anna really is, it never went deeper than admiration. He watches her skip across the water happily.

“She’s rather quick to get distracted too. Well, she’s always been like that. You can’t even tell she just went through something traumatic just now. Typical of an airhead…”

“If you say that to a girl, you’d get killed. But don’t you notice something weird about this place?”

“About that castaway look doesn’t really suit you?”

Terri whacked him in the head in response.

“I mean the place, you dunderhead! Doesn’t this place look a little too clean? You don’t think this place belongs to someone, don’t you? Or this might be some fancy resort?”

“I doubt it.” Ace shakes his head. “And they wouldn’t exactly ignore wreckage from a destroyed ship. They’d call the police and investigate the shoreline.”

Ace did notice that part about the beach being too clean. The beaches he usually goes to, despite having regular cleaners, always have a fair amount of trash and debris washed up. But this place was clearly pristine and spotless of garbage. And now that Ace thought about it, there wasn’t even debris from the ship. Which was strange to him as he has often heard of the news reports of capsized ships would often have wreckage wash up on nearby shores.

And if this place was a resort, they should’ve been able to see some kind of building or even the groundskeeper by now. They’ve been walking for quite awhile now and they haven’t even seen signs of civilization yet. This in itself was also already weird. This was because a majority of the coast nowadays would have beachside homes or towns that can be seen from a distance.

“So where exactly is this place?”

“I don’t know! That’s why we’re checking the surroundings! Maybe we’re on some deserted island or something?”

“Well, if this place was a deserted island I’d definitely go insane if I have to be stuck here with you!”

“You’re not exactly the best company to keep. you damned gorilla woman!”

“Who the hell is a gorilla woman?!”

“Hey! What are you two shouting over there?” Anna calls out to them.

““Nothing!””

“Well, try to get along, okay! This isn’t the time to be fighting!”

Anna puts her hands on hips to emphasize a rather stern appearance but it only looked like a little child pouting.

“We’re not fighting.”

“See, we’re getting along just fine!”

Anna turns on her heels. “Well, just remember that you two shouldn’t fight. I mean you two are both-”

“We get it, Anna.”

“We were just having a nice little chat.”

Both of them said it in a rather deadpan expression.

Looking a little dissatisfied, Anna resumes walking forward while the waves caressed her feet.

Actually Ace had something he wanted to ask Terri.

“You haven’t told her, did you?” Ace drops his voice so that only Terri could hear.

“Told her what?”

“I’m talking about that thing that happened with her last night!”

Everything started turning weird the moment Anna fell into that state. It was like she was possessed by something. Her eyes glowed and she spoke a cryptic message to them before fallen limp then waking up as though nothing happened.

“I can;t tell her something like that had happened to her! We don’t know what exactly happened…” says Terri looking at the skipping Anna with concern. “…and frankly it’s not the right time to ask such a thing of her. I’m worried that she’s just trying to be upbeat for our sake.”

If they told Anna she was suddenly possessed, she wouldn’t take it so well.

“I’ve been confused about the whole situation I barely paid attention to what she was saying back then. Those words she said. Can you even still remember what she said?”

“I don’t really get it at all. I can remember something going in the lines about light going through a door…something about meeting with fire…a healer and some person with a gift…then some things about stars…a mark…and threat of darkness…and heaven’s wrath? That’s all I could remember but…what?”

Ace gawked as she pointed that all out.

“That’s pretty detailed already if you ask me. All I can really remember is that it rhymed like one of those poems my English teacher makes us recite.”

“Heh~” Terri smirked at him. “That’s probably why you have such a hard time answering your tests because you’re not paying attention to the details!”

“If you’re so keen in details then interpret what she said for me then?”

“As if I could understand any of that! And I wouldn’t do it for you anyway!” retorts Terri in annoyance.

“Hmph! I wasn’t expecting anything from you in the beginning.” snorts Ace

“Besides… seeing your childhood friend suddenly become possessed and would you really stop to pay attention to meaning of her mumblings? I’m still blown away that that happened.”

Ace fell silent for a moment. There was a cold chill unrelated to the cool breeze of the sea.

“Speaking of blown away...the last thing that happened really took a literal meaning of phrase blown away.”

“What are you talking about~ Ah!”

Ace and Terri gave each other a long look. This was the other major thing that happened.

It was still slightly vague in his mind but he could still see the events that happened at the very end replay like some static-filled video. Right after that thing with Anna, the storm got worse and Ace caught sight that a huge wave was coming their way from a porthole…Benny took out his weird book and shouted some words in a strange language.

Then a burst of light engulfed them all.

“That light suddenly came out of nowhere. And I blacked out! What’s up with that?! What do you think caused that?”

“Huh?”

Ace looks at her confused. It’s as if she didn’t see what…or rather who caused of that light to appear.

“What are you talking about? Didn’t you see what happened?”

“I went and shielded Anna just as that bright light appeared. Did we all get hit by lightning or something?”

So she didn’t see.

“I…really don’t know either…”

Ace kept his silence. How was he supposed to explain that? They already had enough worry piled on Anna who seemed oblivious to what happened to her. The thought of what happened to Benny or what he may have to do with that light was already weighing heavily on Ace’s mind.

The more Ace thought about the more his head ache.

Just what was going on? When did it all become a fantasy? Did the stress of what happened cause them to have a mass hallucination?

There were too many questions and just speculations instead of answers.

He was too confused. He wanted a straight answer.

Actually, there was one thing he was sure though.

Ace believed that light…saved them. And that Benny was the reason for it.

This really challenged what he knew about his best friend.

Did he really know him at all?

“Hey, look! There’s smoke!”

Terri’s shout snapped him out of thinking.

Ace looked at what she was pointing at and sure enough he saw a thin column of smoke. It was a little bit hard to make out but it was definitely smoke. It seemed to come from just beyond the tip of the bay probably from a cove just beyond it.

Nevertheless, it was a surefire sign that they were not alone or that someone was nearby!

“Alright! Let’s head towards that smoke!”

“I already had that in mind without you telling me!” says Terri.

Ace was a little too euphoric to mind Terri’s derisive reply. He turned to look for Anna and call out to her.

“Come on, Anna! Let’s head on over to- …Anna?”

She was strangely quiet. In fact, the two just noticed that Anna had actually stopped walking nd was a few yards behind them.

Anna was staring…but not to the smoke but towards the trees.

“Oi! Anna?”

“Is there something there?”

Anna didn’t answer…instead she ran towards the forest with amazing speed!

“W-What the hell?!” shouts Ace.

“Where are you going?! ANNA?!!”

The two quickly gave chase and abandoning the smoke.

***

Elsewhere…right where that smoke was…

Following the advice of that voice, a boy abandoned his smoke signal and headed towards the forest.