As the fisherman and I approached the Asian continent, we encountered a powerful storm. The boat was violently tossed about, and the man seemed to struggle to keep the course.
The waves grew larger and larger, and lightning struck while the thunder resounded furiously all around us. I could swim, but the man had entered a panic and didn't know what to do.
"This doesn't look good, kid! I don't know where this storm came from!" he exclaimed.
"Keep steering! We'll make it out alive!" I replied.
Suddenly, the man fixed his gaze to the side and muttered, "God save us."
A massive wave crashed in front of us, immense and merciless, breaking the boat into pieces.
Both of us fell into the open sea, and I tumbled underwater, turning and twisting. I could swim; perhaps my components were damaged, but they were repairable. However, I didn't know what would happen to the poor man. It was a precarious situation.
I swam quickly from the seabed toward the coast, and as the wind and wild waves moved, I tried to find the man, who I couldn't see even with my acute senses. I searched all around, only seeing debris. I grew desperate and finally shouted, "If you're there, why are you doing this? Why?!"
I pounded the waters and kept searching, becoming more and more disoriented. I tried to dive and repeat some of Tomás's aquatic techniques, but the sea was too dark. As I descended deeper and deeper into the depths, I finally saw him, slowly sinking into the dark ocean.
I held onto him and quickly swam back to the surface. I tried to find a place to leave him, and eventually found a large plank.
I left the man on the plank and carefully climbed aboard.
"It seems stable."
He still had a pulse, but it was very faint, so I tried to administer first aid.
"1...2...3...breathe..."
Nothing.
"1...2...3...breathe...come on, sir, come on."
I kept trying carefully to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and continue with the first aid.
"1...2...3...come on! 1...2...3...you can do it, sir, come on!"
After a few minutes and several sessions, the man finally began to expel the saltwater and started to recover.
"Sir, sir. Are you alright?"
After coughing up all the water and me giving him some pats on the back, he looked around and said, "My God, we shipwrecked."
I checked all my devices in the backpack, and it seemed that nothing was functional, and the compass we had must have fallen into the sea. The man and I sat on the plank, now at the mercy of the waters, and I asked him, "Can you navigate by the stars?"
He responded, disappointed, "No, I've always relied on compasses and GPS."
Neither of us had any reference on how to navigate. It was a blow to my ego because I had relied too much on my technology, and now, everything was practically useless.
Realizing the situation we were in, he began to laugh and shook his head.
"I'm stranded in the middle of the ocean with a vampire. Don't take offense; I know you're one of the good ones. The question is, for how long?"
I contemplated for a moment and agreed with him. "What else could I say?" I thought. "For him, it was like being with a tiger locked in a cage. If the sharks didn't get us, it would be me."
I opened my mouth and only asked him, "How do you know?"
I remembered he had seen strange things, like the death of his fisherman friend, and the relationship between the bad guys, red eyes, and the good ones with yellow eyes.
"Oh," he said. "In my long life, I've seen many interesting things, like some humans emerging from the sea wearing clothes, swimming, and when they come out. Of course, I knew they weren't human; one of them killed one of my friends in Russia. I think I told you and your ex-Asian girlfriend about it."
I simply looked at the horizon, and he asked me, "How is she? Everything alright?"
"It was just temporary; we had different objectives. Now, she's found someone else, I couldn't offer her what that man did at the time," I replied.
"Oh," he said. "I'm sorry, but surely you'll find someone who deserves you. Can I tell you something, if you allow me?" he asked.
"Go ahead, it's not like we have other things to do," I joked.
The old man laughed, and then he began. "When I was young, my whole world revolved around ladies; I wanted to get married, have children."
"And did you?" I asked.
"Of course, I have a son, already living his life in Russia. My first wife passed away after the birth of my first daughter, who didn't survive either. The reason was a nurse who had incorrectly administered some medications that had been prescribed to her. I was devastated; she was fired, and had to pay for medical negligence."
I looked at him and said, "My condolences, that's terrible. I also lost my wife and my first and only daughter; we were attacked by what you call red eyes."
"Terrible, son, I'm so sorry; surely they turned you into one of them."
"Yes, it was them, but I left that behind, the past is the past," I replied.
After a pause, I asked him, "But you said you have a son?"
The old man put his hand on my shoulder.
"Oh, I haven't finished telling you my story, young man. After going through a mourning that lasted years and drowning myself in alcohol, I fell very ill, and a very beautiful lady found me. She stayed with me in the hospital and helped me detoxify; her kindness touched my heart, and I quit alcohol. She allowed me to open up to love once again."
I remembered back then how my journey with Kaori had been and how she helped me feel better about myself and allowed me to experience love. Still, I have preserved my vow of celibacy to my wife to honor her memory. The man continued.
"When we started dating, madly in love with her, we went to a restaurant for dinner; she wanted to tell me something that was tormenting her a lot." He paused.
"What thing?" I asked.
"Well, it turned out she was the same nurse who had given the wrong medication to my late wife. I was furious."
"Oh my goodness," I thought. It must have been very difficult for that man to have to face so many conflicting feelings.
"I thought about ending the relationship there; to me, she was a murderer. After leaving her at the restaurant and storming out, when I got home that night, they arrested the primary care doctor who was in charge of my late wife; he had been administering wrong medications and giving false advice to all the staff. Many people had been affected by this corrupt doctor; it was a scandal!"
He looked at me attentively, waiting for my reaction. I felt very surprised by the story.
"And did you contact the woman again, sir?" I asked.
"Of course, son! You know, while she deserved her punishment, I realized how much she had tried to amend her mistakes; that moved me. After all, we all make mistakes; the real value in a person is how much they're willing to mend and improve themselves. I married her, and we had my son. She passed away recently from cancer, difficult for her advanced age, but we had a great life together."
His story moved me considerably; truly, the world isn't black or white, the difficult part is making the right decision in these gray areas where there's no clear vision of what to do.
"It's easy to hate, hard to forget, but admirable to forgive," he finished saying.
His story resonated with me a lot, especially in these moments, and I couldn't help but think of Nacho, and above all, Anastasia.
I found myself, I mean, we found ourselves in a difficult situation, and the only good thing about being stranded at sea were these moments of reflection.
After a few days, the fisherman seemed to weaken; he had gone a couple of days without drinking or eating, and I was beginning to worry. In the distance, I could see some sort of small box; the man was sleeping on the ground, and I quickly seized the opportunity to swim and go for the box.
I checked his pulse, and he seemed to still be alive. Upon opening the box, there were a few cans of tuna, so I opened one and handed it to him.
First, he drank some water and then began to eat compulsively, cutting himself on the edge.
"Ouch," he complained.
I began to smell the blood; I had forgotten how long it had been since I had a single drop of blood. The old man looked at me, started shivering and sobbing; I could smell the fear and desperation in him.
"Don't worry, here, take it," I said.
I took a piece of cloth and quickly wrapped his finger; from there, he began to eat more carefully.
"Anyway, you have to ration, sir."
I tried to establish satellite contact, but it continued to elude me; connecting with satellites was very difficult for me, and I needed time to establish a connection. I didn't understand why lately it had become so difficult for me; something was happening to me that I couldn't explain.
The man's health began to deteriorate, and the sun was relentless. I took my clothes and tried to cover him from the sun to prevent him from getting burned while trying to give him water from the tuna cans.
Occasionally, I swam to see if there was something I could rescue, especially water. I could hunt, but I risked leaving him alone and losing him in the ocean, so I only concentrated on a perimeter and then returned to the board where we were drifting.
When I had less strength, I was preparing to feed him directly from my hand into his mouth; I didn't know what to do; I wasn't going to leave him in the middle of the sea.
"I didn't know your kind sparkle in the sun," the old man said, opening his eyes, visibly dehydrated and thin. "Are you a believer?" he asked, looking at the cross on my father's necklace.
"This is my father's. My mother gave it to me before she died. I was an atheist, but after everything that has been happening to me lately, I don't know what to believe anymore, to be honest."
The old man laughed and said, "I always saw the red eyes as demons, but seeing how you sparkle, you look more like a sort of angel. Perhaps it's a sign from the Lord telling me it's time to go."
"Don't talk nonsense, sir, hold on; we'll find a way back to land, I promise."
The night had become cold, and I covered the old man as much as I could; he was shivering from the cold and weakening more and more. Suddenly, a part of me contemplated the possibility of feeding, right there.
"He's going to die anyway; he's old; no one will miss him," I heard in my head.
"Just this once, no one will know," my mind whispered, while my eyes looked at his throat, and mine burned like a blazing fire.
"No," I told myself. "I mustn't do it; I've trained enough for this; there must be another solution."
But there wasn't one; neither all my mathematical calculations nor my now damaged devices were going to help me; logic had no way out in this situation. It was just me and a potential dying prey in the middle of the ocean.
Desperate, without any more answers, I did what perhaps I hadn't done in years, and what people always do when they feel afraid, I began to pray. So, I clasped my hands together to resist temptation and started:
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he saves those whose spirits are crushed. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. I will not leave you or forsake you."
I kept asking over and over again, "Don't help me, save this man, please..."
Then I heard a whisper in the ocean wind...
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze."
Feeling the beep again, I took a deep breath and asked, "What am I missing? Can I go further?"
The voice replied, "You were born with the mind; you received your strength; now I will give you the spirit. Do you accept me in your heart?"
"I accept," I replied.
The beep began to intensify once more, and I felt the same sensation as in Antarctica; my mind navigated to a distant satellite, and from there, it reached the radio of what seemed to be a military ship several kilometers away. I could hear shouts and interpretations of my distress signals; the sailors began to turn around and followed the signal to which I had mentally connected, while I used all my strength to maintain the signal until they could see us.
The old man opened his eyes and saw the light of the approaching ship, shouting, "Ahhh! Yes! We're saved! We're saved! God has heard your prayers, kid!"
As the men were getting closer, I hugged the old man and said, "I know where I have to go now, sir, take care of yourself, and may God watch over you."
"W-where are you going, son?" He looked at me astonished.
I kissed his forehead and submerged into the sea. Everything made sense to me now, and the satellite had allowed me to see the location of the coast; we had been stranded in the Philippine Sea, and now I knew which direction to swim, towards China, and then the Persian ruins, where the treasure I needed was located.
"You called me, and I have answered. My pilgrimage has begun."