How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony

At the sound of someone calling me, I turn my head. Raleigh runs up with bloodshot eyes and grabs my forearm.

"A-are you alright now? Everyone is seeking shelter on higher ground! You must come too..."

WHOOOOSH!

CRACK.

About 2 seconds.

The sound of a whistling wind.

Raleigh and I turning our heads.

Until something flew and lodged in Raleigh's brow.

2 seconds.

I embraced his falling body and slowly laid him down.

"...Walter?"

It was the first time I had seen the focus leave someone's eyes so quickly.

"Lord Raleigh...?"

Naturally, there was no answer.

THUD.

Something strikes my side, bringing me pain. But even that pain felt like a distant fantasy that made no sense to me.

T-this makes no sense.

Just moments ago, it was night here. Raleigh was laughing and talking with me.

He had a better future awaiting him than being executed by James I. He had days ahead where he would live in glory as a pioneer of the New World, as much as he had worked for me.

Just moments ago... this place... was...

I unconsciously turn on my phone. The date appears.

It was different from the date I remembered.

It was the same as the last day we had planned to stay here.

We had planned to stay here for about a month. This was where the last member tribe of the Lenape lived, so we planned to use this place as a base to contact various member tribes again. We planned to determine the locations of trading posts and cathedrals with them.

And we were scheduled to leave this place.

That was the original plan.

That's how it should have been.

"...H-higher ground."

He had said everyone was seeking shelter on higher ground.

Looking down, the place that had been the village was completely submerged in muddy water as the river swelled, and our carts and Porter were being washed away, half-destroyed.

I couldn't waste any more time. I carried Raleigh's body... his body still warm... and started running like mad toward a nearby hill.

"Wa... Walter, just wait a moment. We'll reach higher ground soon!"

I felt like I would lose my mind at any moment. I uttered meaningless words to Raleigh's body whose heart had stopped beating as I ran. I just had to. I had to.

"M-Mr. Nemo! It's Mr. Nemo!"

And soon, the voices of others could be heard through the fierce wind.

In the distance, I could see people trembling and lying flat. They were too afraid of being blown away by the wind to move properly.

I tried to move toward them.

I tried to tell them I was safe.

My clothes are soaked and clinging to my body. Raleigh's cold lips, now blue and parted, brush against my ear. The chill of death brushes against me. Goosebumps rise.

But I had to go.

SPLASH.

I was walking toward the high hill when I soon encountered a shallow, wide stream. Looking around, there was no way to go around, so I gritted my teeth and stepped into the stream.

PLOP.

"...Huh?"

The current of the stream, deeper than I expected, disrupts my body's balance.

It was an instant.

As my body tilted, I felt Raleigh's body slipping off my back. As I forcibly tried to grab him, my entire body fell backward.

SPLASH!

"Wa, Walter!"

Walter's body is washed away in an instant. At the same time, I am plunged below the surface, and when I raise my body, coughing from the muddy water that entered my eyes, ears, and throat.

A huge log was rolling toward me.

It struck my body.

I momentarily lost consciousness.

My body tumbled about in pieces like a broken toy, like a cotton doll with burst seams. The relentless current kept taking me somewhere. Every time I floundered, the heavy log caught on my body restricted my movement.

And.

I sink.

I.

To somewhere unknown.

Everything is hazy. The water is both salty and tasteless. Fish are eating all sorts of things that lived on land and died, taking advantage of the chaos.

And...

Time passes.

I suffocate.

But I don't die.

There was no more oxygen to sustain my body's life. My lungs were completely filled with salt water.

But I don't die.

My body becomes heavy and doesn't move. I couldn't find a way to escape from this cold, wet prison.

My consciousness fades.

But it never breaks.

I don't die.

And so.

I...

Endure an eon of silence.

...

...

Light.

Light that illuminates the world.

And.

...a voice.

"...Are you alright!"

I open my eyes again.

My respiratory system instinctively coughs to expel the water filling my body.

"Kuhak...! Huh..."

"M-Mr. Nemo!"

But comically, it was a dry cough. As I struggled to breathe, Raleigh embraced me from behind and attempted the Heimlich maneuver as I had taught him.

It was useless since there was nothing actually stuck in my throat. But thanks to Raleigh's action, I was able to regain my senses.

I look around.

The world is still night.

With hands trembling like someone freezing to death, I take out my phone from my pocket. And check the date.

It was 'today' again.

"..."

"M-Mr. Nemo? Are you alright? You suddenly staggered and struggled to breathe..."

I wanted to say it was nothing. I wanted to say I was fine.

Whether because of my cheat or my mental strength, I could endure being stabbed in the heart with a knife or having my body cut to pieces. I could forget it quickly.

But after experiencing that moment just now, I realize.

I... won't be able to forget this for a long time.

What just happened wasn't 'nothing.' It wasn't a simple nightmare or hallucination.

I gather again the fragments of visions and intense emotions scattered like vomit in my mind.

Through them, I try to gauge what I saw, what exactly is going on.

And.

"Immortal one..."

A very familiar voice echoes in my mind.

"...You shall have eyes that avoid death."

==

Raleigh saw his body suddenly staggering. He hastily grabbed his body as he was about to collapse and asked.

"Mr. Nemo, are you really alright?"

"..."

His breathing slowly calms down.

And.

He meets Raleigh's eyes.

Emotions rarely seen were lingering in his eyes, which were usually calm.

"..."

"..."

Bewilderment and fear.

As Walter was about to say something to him, he briefly covered his face with both hands... then wiped them down.

Then the same peaceful smile as before emerged.

But somehow, it was a smile tinged with detachment, unknowable sadness, and determination.

"...Walter."

"Uh, w-what is it..."

He looks at Raleigh.

"I have received a revelation."