Somewhere in the south Pacific

Water. That was all they could see. Water. Water. And more water. Yes, it was to be expected because the nearest major landmass was … well, who knows how far away from them, but still it was a sight of morbid unease. Even though the sun was shining brightly, the sky was clear as it could be and they had enough food – fruits, fish and some coconuts – and fresh water, and the weather was calm, something could still happen and ruin it all.

Out here, anything could happen.

The focus of the above, dear readers, were two women on a large wooden canoe about twenty feet long with the usual oval shape, though it had a squarer central part to it with a door to a hull inside the canoe, where said provisions were being held. A small mast stood in the centre of the canoe with a large sheet acting as a sail. A light wind was blowing them along, but to where they had no idea.

The two women, short with shoulder length black hair, slim builds and dressed in attire that covered their torsos, thighs and upper legs that were a mixture of colours akin to what one would see in an evening sky, gazed out across the ocean. One sat cross-legged, one hand curled into a fist and cupped by the other and held in front of her mouth as if in silent contemplation of what sort of world they were in, lost in her own thoughts. Her companion, practically identical, stood nearby, her head turning every so often as if hoping they would spot something on the horizon, or possibly even moving below them in the water. Neither of them had spoken for a while; at first glance a symptom of an argument, but upon deeper inspection it was more of: what could they talk about. The ocean was one thing, but their purpose out here was another, and that would only stress them out.

Silence hung over them like a cloud, the one standing periodically exhaling in frustration as she took a bit from an apple, or what little was left as it had almost been consumed practically to the core.

"Need I ask, but have you seen anything?" the sitting woman asked her fellow on the shop, though had an idea of what her answer would be.

She did not reply straight away as she tossed the apple into the sea, swallowing the meagre portion of the fruit that had been left, and leaned back on the mast, making it creak.

"No, not since we left the island of Te Fiti," she replied, her mind thinking back to the place where they had been for the past number of years, calling it their home.
"And as we have been out here for at least a few days, I doubt we will find her,"

Her companion sighed, pinching the brim of her nose. It's like finding a needle in a haystack out here.

She turned to look at the other woman, her expression one of palpable frustration and anxiety. "Sister, what if we don't find her?"

Her companion turned her head to look at her. "She left in the middle of the night with one of the canoes and has gone …" she paused, trying to blurt out some location or other that would cross her mind, but none came, so she opted for waving her arm in the general direction of the ocean before them. "Somewhere out there!" she said frustratingly.

Her sister looked away, running her hand across her forehead and looking back out across the vast expanse of water.

"She could be anywhere by now, Moll, and we have no way of finding her!" the other woman's voice spoke up in an angrier tone.

"I'm aware of that Lora, but we have to try." The woman, Moll, replied, trying to conceal her own anger at their current situation. "We can't just leave her out here, she might be in trouble for all we know."

Lora, her sibling, made an exasperated noise. "She probably already is! For all we know, she could be dying on the canoe, or have been taken by some creature, or lost in a storm, or-"

Moll stamped her foot, making a loud echo on the wooden floor of the canoe. "Lora!" she barked angrily, silencing the woman, turning to face her. "I know, but we still have to at least try. Te Fiti would not have wanted us to give up so easily; she never did for us and our people long ago."

Lora only looked down guiltily at the floor of the vessel, her mind retracing that dark day so long ago. How long had it been? At least a few millennia, time became almost a blur for them, yet it was still so fresh that the events … those horrific events may as well have happened yesterday. It made her shudder to her very core, the screaming, the crying, the dead and dying, the fires, and the sounds of … of … of her.

Moll, seeing her sister's expression, walked over and knelt down beside her, placing her hands on either side of her head gently, looking at her with a soft and sympathetic expression.

"Look, we will find her," she said reassuringly. "I know we will. After all, Te Fiti always told us to maintain hope even in the darkest of times."

Lora gave a small nod as she looked up at her sister, a small smile tugging on the edge of her lips. "Yes, you're right," she replied, loving that her sister could still maintain some composure and hope even when in a situation like this. "I'm sorry. I'm just … still trying to process that she actually left us so suddenly. I thought she was getting better,"

Moll nodded, her face melancholy as she lowered her hands from her sister's head. "So did I," A heavy pause hung between them. "I thought being with Te Fiti would keep her safe from the Dark Goddess' influence."

"But we were fooled." Lora spoke. "Do you think she had planned this all along?" she asked her sibling.

Moll shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Something must have happened for Belvera to regress. I mean," she paused, trying to think over the last few months, pondering over every encounter, every word she and Lora had spoken with their elder sibling. "She-she changed over months,"

Lora nodded. "Yes, going from more social and less pessimistic to more reclusive and … well …" she trailed off, not wanting to use the word 'evil', though most of the alternatives were not really much better in terms of being a substitute adjective. "Dark," was the word she used.

Moll agreed. Apt, considering what was done to her. "Yes. I-I guess I should have tried to reason with her more,"

"We both should have," Lora said, sighing again and looking out at the ocean as if longing to be able to see across its vastness and pinpoint the exact location of the woman of their discussion and then immediately head that way and talk to her. "But, she was always a little impulsive,"

Moll tittered. "Well, she's even more impulsive now, but not in a good way." Another pause.

It was true. Their elder sibling, while they loved her and wanted to see if she would be well, and they both believed she would do the same for them, Belvera could be very … 'difficult' was a word Moll had used one time in the last few months. Yet, to be fair to her, after having experienced the Dark Goddess, the same could have been said for Lora here, or even herself.

"Moll?" Lora queried, meeting her sister's gaze with a worried look. "You don't think she has gone to Skull Island, do you?"

Almost by instinct, though not necessarily that being a good thing, Moll shook her head, giving her sister a look of: Why would you say that?! Who would want to go there anyway?!

"Absolutely not!" She exclaimed, almost as if she was offended to hear such a question from her sister. "Any who go there wouldn't survive! Te Fiti warned us of this. I doubt even Father would go there!"

Lora said nothing, but the doubt was still palpable.

On the one hand, her sister was right to be exasperated about Skull Island. From what she had heard of the place, and none of it had been good – even calling it bad or horrible would have been a compliment – it was almost like a hell on earth. The humans of this area called it Lalotai (she never really understood what the name meant beyond that it was supposed to be negative), but even there would have seemed like a paradise compared to Skull Island.

And yet, on the other hand, there was still that chance. Remote, yes, but still it was there.

Lora went to speak but stopped when she saw her sister looking past her across the ocean's surface. Lora looked and her face went pale.

Floating not too far ahead of their canoe was what looked like a tail, a big tail. It was grey, slim at the end but got larger and thicker as it neared the meeting point between the air and the water and was covered in a thick slime colour that looked like snot. As they got closer, they could smell it too. Moll gagged and Lora coughed, covering her nose and mouth with her hand. It stank of bad rotting meat left in the sun for days (this was probably even the reason for the smell from this thing anyway).

"W-what is that?!" Moll asked.

"I have no idea," Lora replied. "But I hope it isn't …"

She trailed off when the canoe was close enough, almost at a distance where they could have easily tossed an apple or some other heavy fruit and hit it with no problem. The two sisters exchanged nervous glances, silently communicating that they hoped it was not what they thought it was.

As if fate was mockingly defying them, the tail turned over and was they saw was nothing else except the end of the tail, though it looked like it had been bitten, or if not bitten then possibly ripped, off. The smell was stronger now and Moll and Lora had to retreat a few paces up the canoe to stop themselves from gagging or vomiting. The tail, which was big, and to them it was almost huge as they were not very tall women themselves, slowly began to sink beneath the waves. Whether any fish or sharks or any other predators out there in the ocean would eat it or not (they both hoped not because who knew what kind of diseases or bacteria or whatever may have been living inside it) was unknown.

Regardless, they saw it, and they knew what it belonged to.

"Moll," Lora said in a quiet tone that screamed terror, not taking her eyes off the tail as they moved past it. "Do you think …?"

Her sibling took a moment to respond, her face also turning a ghostly white. "I have no doubt it's them," she said. "And for what did this …"

She locked eyes with her sister.

It was all they needed to begin grabbing the oars and trying to turn the canoe around as fast as possible and come back the way they came.

Te Fiti would need to be told as soon as possible.