Luka and Calysa slammed and rolled to the bow of their cabin as the metal of their vessel beneath them screeched and bent, their bodies flung forth due to the impact against the sudden shore.
Both laid groaning in pain as their ship lodged into the land mass and their tumble subsided.
They struck a strikingly similar pose to when they first met in Orconia City, when Calysa knocked Luka over and fell on top of him when he was about to step inside his carriage, though this time she was even slower to get off.
"Are you okay?" She said to him, not-so-tenderly poking a fresh bruise on his forehead from their sudden crash, her black hair delicately draped over his chin and cheeks. Irritatingly to Luka, she was completely unscathed from their fall, the Wolf absorbing most of the impact from the Orca Host.
Though his head did indeed hurt, it was at the very bottom of concerns amongst Luka's list of pain.
"Groin... knee..." Luka wheezed, tapping vigorously on Calysa's thigh to alleviate where the weight of her knee was carelessly positioned.
"Oh!" Calysa realized with a snap and laugh, adding even more accidental weight to the sensitive region before her knee was removed altogether.
Luka's grimace turned into a smile as Calysa kissed his bruised forehead, the purple contusion erased after her lips gently left his skin. It was a Gift of Luka'a that thoroughly appealed to Calysa. Not only for the marvel of watching a wound disappear so quickly, but also that Luka, her Luka, was only ever in physical pain temporarily.
"Oh my Gods... I've just discovered a new Gift of the Orcas," She said to him with fake surprise and a grin.
Luke rolled his eyes and nodded for her to get to the punchline of her discovery.
"Orca kisses... they heal," She exclaimed and smiled at him, tucking her hair behind her ear as her eyes donned their usual mischievous squint which he loved so much.
"Wow Cali, what a discovery... so the virus my mother received from being bitten by a Wolf, acquiring its healing powers and passing it to me, that played absolutely no role?" Luka asked and joked with her as he stood to his feet, helping Calysa to hers as he began to scan the scene of their crash.
"Nope. All me."
Luka now joined her game, and said, "In that case Cali, my lips I... I think they're really hurt..."
She pulled him by his collar and kissed him again before he finished the sentence.
His hand laced through her dark hair at the back of her head, sending shivers up her spine as his other smooth yet strong hand held her neck. Her muscles fell limp as she surrendered to his embrace, her lips locked perfectly with his as his stubble scratched somehow soothingly along her smooth skin.
"Luka... we... should... find out... where... we are..." She said to him while laughing with delight through intermittent kisses, his hands unable to let go of her, his lips unable to get enough of her.
If this is a dream, just a little longer, Calysa thought to herself and pleaded to her potential sleep, wrapping her slender arms around Luka's neck.
It was an incredible moment for Luka. Trained from birth to always be hyper-vigilant, to survive at all costs, to be ready for anything and to kill or be killed, the Wolf couldn't care less about their accident or where they were. She was his weakness. His happiness. He let his guard down for her.
With a sigh but an extra kiss, he relented, scanning the damage to the ship and beyond.
"I thought there wasn't land for miles..." Luka said as he took her hand and walked to the side of the vessel, inspecting their sudden surroundings.
"There wasn't... it's like this shore came out of nowhere," She said to him.
Luka looked to his watch map, and realized him and Calysa were on a land mass not documented before in Gaiathal history. The red dot on his watch indicating his location pinged and flashed in the emptiness of the ocean, still as stone.
The duo scanned the shore, and they realized wherever they found themselves was a significant chunk of land. Luckily for the both of them, the shore appeared to be entirely empty of Outlanders or civilization in general. And there was no sign of the Scientist.
Where were Solan the Scientist's ships? If an armada that large now hid from their eyes, this Lost Continent must have been giant.
"What's the plan?" Calysa said to him as his fingers locked with hers.
"We look for Solan," He replied, and he started packing two large backpacks with supplies the Raven's had left them. "Get Eeva back. Return to the other continent and see if Maeve knows how to kill her brother, and the Dark. With Eeva back and as rightful ruler, hopefully us saving her will pardon me."
Calysa looked uneasily at the motor of their vessel, smashed and destroyed, all propellers apparently missing from the crash, doubtful the plan to return would work. "I know I couldn't start the motor before, but I am certain you couldn't get that working now, either."
"You're right. Looks like we will have to steal a ship from Solan, too," Luka said and scratched his head, squinting as the sun shone in his eyes.
The two vacated the vessel with their large backpacks of supplies, Luka jumping down onto the sandy shore, sinking into the wet sand with a splat. He offered to help Calysa down from the cabin of the vessel, but to his delight she swatted away his hand.
"Just because I'm your girlfriend now doesn't mean I'm some damsel in distress," She smiled and squinted at him, and with a great leap of her strong slender legs, bounded to the dryness of the sandy shore instead of Luka's murky region.
Luka lurched forth with his muddy boots, and tightened his backpack to his shoulders. "I like the sound of that," He said to her, smiling.
"You like 'damsels in distress'?" Calysa asked, unbelievingly, taking offense.
"No, idiot. You calling yourself my girlfriend," He said as he caught up with her. "Though, don't I have to ask you to be, or something? Remember, I wasn't really socialized as a child..."
Calysa playfully flicked Luka's shoulder for his name calling and then blushed and laughed at the latter part of his sentence. "You are surprisingly adept at socializing, for a Warrior Wolf super soldier, thingy... or whatever Lleyton made you," She said grinning, both walking towards the tree-line.
"Okay, but seriously, do I have to ask you to be...?" Luka said to her, still not knowing the correct customs of Calysa's Orcas.
She rolled her eyes at him and mischievously turned, and said, "Now that you mention it, there is a process. Usually, the Orca males vying for someone's heart swim into the ocean and capture the largest fish that they can with their bare hands. Then, the Orca that brings the largest fish back to the Orca female is given the blessing of their hand in partnership - the title and label of 'girlfriend'."
Luka looked side-to-side, uneasily, eyebrows raised in shock, and gulped, followed by an endearing wince.
Just as he removed his backpack and began removing his uniform to jump back into the sea for Calysa's prize to earn the label, she stopped him with a laugh and a hand to his chest.
"Luka, I'm obviously kidding, what kind of society do you think we Orcas are?"
She kissed him as she brought him close again, and couldn't help but revel in the cute, dumb, yet grand gesture of Luka about to try and swim into the ocean to catch a fish. It was like watching a Wolf about to take flight from a tree in the name of love.
"You have already won my heart, many times over," She said to him, as she picked up his dropped bag and passed it to him, smiling.
And again, even, you lovable boy, she happily thought to herself and beamed.
While Calysa smiled, Calysa was stunned to see Luka's face still contorted in a confused grin. "So... Does that mean yes, or..." He said to her, raising an eyebrow and searching for a concrete answer from Calysa.
"Oh for Gods' sake. Yes, we are an item. Can we focus, now, please?" She shook her head and smiled, striding towards their quest.
As Calysa walked to the tree-line and Luka stood straight in utter elation, he tightened his backpack to his shoulders and jogged after Calysa. Jogged after his partner.
Before they entered the vibrant yet dark green of the island, Luka realized it was nothing like the tropical coast they had arrived from. It was chilly, rocky, with thick green trees but not a single palm tree, with tufts of fog scattered around small mountains in the distance of the continent, and seaweed and branches strewn upon the silty shore. It was messier, yet more beautiful.
"Where do we even begin?" Calysa asked as she brandished a Raven dagger that Tristan and Rosaya had left them.
Luka holstered his dagger as well, as he realized the Raven Hosts didn't supply them with a sword or shield. "Anywhere," Luka shrugged, looking to his watch. "Let's walk inland, I'll keep track of where we've traveled with my watch. Hopefully we find them, cautiously," He said to her.
Their quest to find Eeva began with a brisk walk through the brush of the Lost Continent. Calysa was light on her feet, hardly making a sound on the cold rain forest floor, while Luka led, clearing their path of branches or vegetation which stood in their way.
"What are the chances Solan has built an underground Labyrinth here, too?" Calysa whispered from behind, clearing her path from a spider web with her dagger. "Like the one you grew up in."
"Probably high. It now makes sense why Solan has always been a step ahead of everyone. Who knows how much time he's been able to spend here, inventing things while such little time passes on the other continent," Luka said, staring at the seemingly stationary sun through the thick trees.
After a couple of hours of walking, and even though the sun was at the exact same location as when they landed, both Luka and Calysa sensed the forest they were walking through was turning darker. Yet, they could still see the sun through the thick forest, as still as ever.
They both realized this truth at the same time, and Luka turned to face her.
"Does it feel darker to you?" Luka whispered to Calysa.
She nodded, and said, "Yes, but the forest doesn't seem any thicker..."
Confused, the two stood still for several moments as they pondered on their darkening predicament.
Calysa's eyes brightened as she came up with an explanation. Her biological clock was getting sleepy, having been awake for her usual hours despite the non-moving sun.
"The keepers of this continent... maybe they are artificially dimming the sun light, aware of the time perception difference on this continent and the other. If they can conceal the continent from us, no doubt that they can also alter the sunlight, allowing us and Solan... and whoever else is on this continent to have a proper sleep cycle."
It seemed entirely conceivable to Luka, who also himself was beginning to feel tired. Who knew what the people on this continent were capable of. Luka even remembered in his childhood in the Labyrinth, they too had artificial stars and sunlight to simulate humanity.
Frighteningly, perhaps the keepers of this continent were working with Solan, and Solan had learned the trick from them.
"We should turn around, back to the shore," Calysa said. "Set up camp there, and set off tomorrow with enough 'day light'."
Luka nodded and relented, frustrated, and the two returned for the shore, retracing their steps.
After two more biological hours of hiking, the couple pierced back into the shore they arrived at, their vessel still stuck in the sand but certainly darker, the silver and metal of it no longer shining.
The stationary sun now seemed to resemble a moon, as the fake darkness of the sky and stars began to deepen and descend and reveal themselves.
"Late supper?" Calysa asked Luka, as she reached into their bag for Raven mead and bottles of water.
"I can hunt, but..."
"You make us a tent and a fire, I'll worry about dinner," Calysa said to him, tying her hair back and beginning to remove her uniform.
"Turn around," She playfully said to him and he obeyed with a grin, as she hung her crisp military uniform on a nearby branch, her underwear to be a swim suit and the ocean to be her hunting ground.
"Wolves don't eat raw fish," Luka said to her as it took every ounce of his energy to politely keep looking back towards the trees and away from her.
He remembered forcing the cold scales of a raw fish down his throat at the Island Games, and would rather starve than do it again.
"What do you think the fire is for, Wolf?" Calysa smirked, running towards the ocean with only her knife and a black Raven blanket. She hung the blanket as a towel on the wall of their ship which dug into the shore and awaited her return, and slashed into the darkening waves with a glide that only an Orca could provide.
As the Orca disappeared into the depths to search for their supper, Luka retrieved a Raven tent left to them by Tristan and Rosaya from his bag.
He constructed it nervously, pegging it into the sand and dirt of the tree-line, praying it didn't detach and embarrass him in front of Calysa.
In the sand and closer to the ocean, he laid down the driest branches from the forest he could find, and ignited it with a burner that the Ravens had left.
He held his tired and cold hands to the fire as the full darkness of the artificial night arrived, his back to the dark green tent and trees, dagger within arms distance in case something or someone attacked.
He sipped on the mead Calysa had collected, but it was far too cold for his liking. He transferred it to a pot which he held over the fire, warming his beverage in order to warm himself.
He smiled as he saw Calysa re-emerge from the dark ocean, wringing out her hair and covering herself in the dark towel, slamming down two giant pink fish before her that she had slain in the depths of the sea.
She walked with them both slung over her shoulder, somehow keeping her towel to her body simultaneously. How she kept warm in the cold of the night and water, Luka had no idea. It truly was a profound Gift.
"Nice work," She remarked, nodding towards the fire and tent that Luka created.
She sharpened two long sticks that she found just inside the forest with her dagger, and speared them through the jaws of the feast she gathered.
"Ever roast marshmallows?" She asked him, passing him the stick and the fish. "Same idea, except I've brought you a great delicacy. The skin should peel straight off after it's heated enough."
Luka passed Calysa the mead he heated while he sipped on his, and took the great beast from her hands. Calysa set down her drink and thanked him, as she changed back into her uniform, again turning Luka around with a playful glare from her brown eyes which flickered from the fire.
As Luka resumed his shivering from the cold of the ocean air and was given permission to look back from the trees, he wondered if he could trade spots with the fish he now plunged in the fire.
Calysa returned and sat beside Luka and the fire, and snuggled up with him beneath his many layers. Her wet hair was cold on his shoulder but her warm body soon warmed his more than the fire ever could.
They sat together for several moments smiling as their fish sizzled and spat in the heat of the flames, their mead rich and warming as they sipped together in the fake but stunning starlight. The sun which was now a moon lingered beautiful in the sky.
"What tastes better for Orcas? Cooked, or raw?" Luka said, confused as to why Calysa was cooking her fish over the fire, given her Gift and culture.
"Raw, of course," She said to him as she turned her simmering and shimmering fish over. "But I don't want to scare you away."
Luka laughed as he turned his fish over too, giving Calysa a kind bump of his shoulder. "It would take a lot more than that to scare me off," He said to her.
Calysa looked up at him and scowled. "Really? You're telling me at the Island Games, when you saw my people biting into raw fish with sliming scales and some still wiggling that this didn't gross you out?"
Luka almost puked as Calysa laughed, making him relive the moment of forcefully eating the frozen flesh.
"I knew it. Hence, I cook."
She retrieved her fish from the flames and with a fork, peeled away the scales she promised would fall off which did. She scooped a chunk of meat from the bone and held it to Luka's hesitant lips.
He reluctantly opened his mouth and chewed on the fish. It was fatty and rich and savoury and somehow spicy, the best piece of food he had ever encountered, savouring each chew as Calysa retrieved her fork from his mouth.
"Verdict?" Calysa said to him as she watched his face optimistically and hopefully.
"So good," Luka replied through stuffed cheeks, begging for more. "Though, can we not talk about verdicts, please and thanks?"
"I told you it was a delicacy," Calysa celebrated under her breath as she passed him her fish and continued to cook his for herself. She apologized for her poor choice of words with a smirk, remembering their daring escape after Julien passed his verdict of death for Luka.
After both of their meals were finally cooked, they ate hungrily and peacefully and comfortably in each other's silence and presence. Calysa discarded their sharpened sticks into the ocean with a childish throw that Luka couldn't help but laugh at, and she resumed her place at Luka's side and the fire.
As Calysa smiled upon Luka's shoulder and Luka smiled with his chin on her head beneath their shared blanket and the spurious stars, they realized the moment was perfect.
A moment so perfect that they both sadly dreaded, and knew, would end as they resumed their search for Eeva and Solan in the morning. But they would savour the moment while it lasted.
Luka noticed Calysa start to nod off to sleep on his shoulder, and he gently nudged her awake.
"Cali, time for bed," He said to her kindly and delicately, as he started to smother the fire and collected their mugs of mead, kissing her forehead.
In her tired state, Calysa collected water from the ocean and stifled the fire for good. Luka laid as many blankets as he could retrieve from his bag onto the floor of their tent, and positioned their bags as pillows, fastening a small light inside and to the tip of the tent he would switch off when they were ready for sleep.
They both retreated into the tent Luka had constructed, and zipped the flap shut behind them, both changing out of their uniforms and wrapping themselves in a sheet of black blanket, readying for bed in their respective corners of the tent.
As they turned to face each other to climb into the blankets which awaited them, Calysa dropped the sheets that clothed her to the floor, but this time did not request Luka to look away. She only looked seriously into his eyes.
The way he looked at her filled her heart. With love in his eyes, and care so blatant for her, and an attraction that was so palpable, and a longing for her which was nothing short of obvious now.
She glided over to him and tugged his sheets free, and Luka did not attempt to stop her. Even though the ocean cold should have chilled his bare bones through the thin fabric of their tent, his skin warmed and his heart beat faster as she grabbed his hand in hers.
"Have you ever...?" She asked him, her eyes bashfully avoiding his as he grabbed her by her waist, bringing her warmth closer to him.
"Just once," Luka said, ashamed of the circumstances surrounding his first time.
But this current moment, his present, was so intense, so intimate, that the 'first time' he spoke of barely even entered his consciousness. All that filled his thoughts and desires was the person standing before him.
They intimately stared into each other's eyes for several moments, awaiting for the other to make their move, not wanting to appear hasty, not wanting to force the other into doing something they were not ready for, but so desperately craving the other all the same.
"I am yours, if you'll have me," Calysa said softly to him, the first brave voice to shine in the night.
Her eyes gripped shut yearningly as his mouth met hers in an instant, lifting her from the ground in his arms, passionately kissing her as they fell to the floor of their tent underneath the embrace of the dark sky.
**
As the artificial sunlight crept through the thin canvas of their tent, Calysa stirred awake, smiling.
Her head rested on Luka's chest, which raised slowly and peacefully as he breathed in the ocean air still asleep, almost to the rhythm of the waves which gracefully crashed on the shore.
She carefully removed his hand from the small of her back, and rose quietly to dress back in her uniform and to prepare breakfast for the two.
But just as she donned her undergarments, she heard a twig snap.
Silently and swiftly, she snatched her dagger and Luka's dagger beside their bed, her face now next to Luka's, who was still asleep.
"Luka, get up," Calysa whispered harshly into his ear.
His eyes sprung open and met Calysa's, who was on her feet wrapped in black and her Raven dagger in her hand now at the mouth of the tent.
He expected to wake peacefully with her in his arms, but instead, as the sun began to behave like a sun again and the sky no longer holding stars, a seeming threat lingered just outside their thin and vulnerable sheets.
"Something's outside," She mouthed to him, handing him his dagger as well.
It didn't take Luka long to spring back into his upbringing as a soldier and survivalist. In fact, it only took the two words she uttered in his direction. But the most important thing that launched him back into his instinctive training as the Six with Soft Skin was who and what he would use his skill for now.
If something threatened to hurt Calysa, he would do whatever it took to eliminate the threat.
While Calysa was a proven warrior herself, and had proven it time and time again, Luka gently and quietly nudged her behind him with his free hand, his dagger hand at the ready, facing the flap which was zipped shut.
He held his index finger to his lips in Calysa's direction, as whatever lurked on the outside, trying to be quiet themselves, approached from the front of their tent.
Not ready to be the recipient of the first strike from the stranger that lurked outside, a shirtless Luka slashed through the canvas with a quick strike of his dagger and pounced upon the shadow that was inches from their shelter.
Luka stabbed and sliced at his opponent that he now laid his eyes upon, a being slightly taller than him with the same features and a black suit which enveloped the man all the way to his chin, who was somehow able to dodge all of Luka's steel swipes.
With speed and ferocity, the being deflected Luka's dagger with a metal forearm and skillful dodges, disarming Luka with a strike of his other metal hand.
Luka saw Calysa exit the tent now too, fighting with another being dressed the same way as Luka's adversary, just as fast and skilled, fighting Calysa to a standstill with her metal arms, deflecting Calysa's dagger as well.
Luka's opponent finally landed a blow to Luka's jaw, sending a cut and blood spreading just underneath his chin.
As Luka readied his stance again, the small cut sealing shut, the man across from him said, "Have you had enough, yet?"
Calysa, stunned with the words that had come out of the man's mouth, by the sound and familiarity that the words made, had let her guard down, and she was tackled to the ground by the woman.
Calysa was surprised because she wasn't sure if Luka had said the words, or the man he fought.
"Cali!"
As Luka turned to a subdued Calysa due to all the confusion, the man tackled Luka to the ground, and held a dagger to his throat.
"Easy, easy, we aren't here to hurt you," The man said as him and his partner held Luka and Calysa tightly, daggers and sharp metal ready to stab any sudden movements from the two semi-clothed warriors.
They eased up, and allowed Luka and Calysa to stand, revealing themselves to be no threat, their hands in the air and blade of their daggers holstered at their waists.
"Who are you?" Calysa said to the man, the familiarity of his voice shocking her again.
The man smiled at both Calysa and Luka, and removed his black glove. With his dagger redrawn, he cut his own hand, and lifted his wounded hand forth for Calysa and Luka to observe.
In seconds, the wound sealed into the natural creases of the man's hand, and the blood dried into nothing more than harmless scab.
Luka and Calysa gasped. Calysa realized why the man's voice sounded so familiar.
"Luka, I'm your brother, Verrae Fenria. And you're not a lone Wolf. There's three of us left."